After Pakistani militants infiltrated across the line of control in disputed Kashmir and attacked an Indian Army base on Sept. 18, killing 19 soldiers, India shed years of inaction over Pakistan-backed terrorism and retaliated with surgical strikes on terrorist launchpads. In a lightening operation, Indian special forces hit multiple targets located several kilometers deep inside Pakistan.
For long, India's response to the Pakistani military's strategy to inflict death by a thousand cuts through terrorist proxies was survival by a thousand bandages. India undertook no punitive action even in response to the 2008 bloody Mumbai attacks, although self-defense is embedded as an "inherent right" in the United Nations charter.
By signaling a likely end to the era of Indian inaction, the Sept. 29 commando operation has put the Pakistani military on notice that India could henceforth respond to terrorist attacks in punitive and unpredictable ways.