The rules of engagement between India and Pakistan have been fundamentally rewritten.
For decades, the standard playbook following a Pakistan-sponsored terror attack on Indian soil involved diplomatic dossiers, global outrage, and strategic restraint. However, the details emerging from National Security Advisor Ajit Doval’s explosive first-hand account in Discovery’s new docuseries, Declassified: Operation Sindoor, reveal a paradigm shift.
Following the horrific 22 April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack that left 26 civilians dead, India did not just retaliate it launched a calibrated, intelligence-driven military operation that exposed the hollowness of Pakistan’s military posturing and shattered its planned counter-offensive before it could even get off the ground.
The Directive: “Who has done it? I want it immediately.”
The foundation of Operation Sindoor was laid at the highest political level. Upon returning to India following the Pahalgam massacre, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s directive to the national security apparatus was uncompromising. According to NSA Doval, the Prime Minister’s first question at the airport was blunt: “Who has done it? Who is responsible? We should be very clear who the perpetrators are. I want it immediately.”
What followed was a masterclass in intelligence gathering and target acquisition. Within days, India had mapped out the exact terror infrastructure responsible for the bloodshed.
May 7: The 23-Minute Blitz
On 7 May 2025, India initiated Operation Sindoor. In a surgical and devastating wave that lasted barely 23 minutes, Indian forces carried out precision strikes on nine terrorist camps linked to the Pahalgam attackers. Five targets were obliterated in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir (PoJK), and four high-value targets were hit deep inside Pakistan proper—including iconic Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) and Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) facilities in Bahawalpur and Muridke.
The execution was flawless: every target was hit, zero misses were recorded, and collateral damage was kept to an absolute minimum.
May 10: The Neutralisation of ‘Bunyān al-Marsūs’
Reeling from the humiliation of the May 7 strikes, the Pakistani military establishment scrambled to save face. Over the next few days, they launched waves of drones, missiles, and attempted air intrusions.
By 10 May, Pakistan was preparing to formally launch its much-hyped Operation Bunyān al-Marsūs. Drawn from Surah As-Saff of the Quran, the name translates to “a solid structure cemented with molten lead.” The operation was meant to signal unbreakable Islamic unity and military strength to the domestic Pakistani audience.
But India did not wait for Pakistan to complete its build-up.
In a textbook display of proactive neutralisation, the Indian Air Force struck first. On 10 May, before Pakistan’s “molten lead” could materialize, Indian forces preemptively hammered Pakistani airstrips and key military installations. Satellite imagery and internal Pakistani dossiers later confirmed catastrophic damage to multiple Pakistani air bases, including Nur Khan/Chaklala, Rafiqui, Murid, and Sargodha/Mushaf.
These pre-emptive hits severely degraded Pakistan’s ability to generate meaningful offensive air power. Operation Bunyān al-Marsūs was dismantled before it could gain any real operational momentum.
“India Can Hit Hard”: Doval’s Stark Warning
In Declassified: Operation Sindoor, Ajit Doval is characteristically blunt about India’s lethal resolve. He makes it clear that India’s days of absorbing terror strikes without overwhelming kinetic retaliation are over.
“Message to the world is very clear — India’s generosity or India being tolerant should not be mistaken for its weakness,” Doval states. “India can take risks, India can hit hard, irrespective of the consequences. Once anything starts, we are willing to go as far as required to preserve India’s sovereignty, and there are no limits on that. We fight till the last drop of blood.”
The stark contrast in the aftermath of the 88-hour confrontation tells the entire story. While Pakistani airbases smoldered, India suffered no comparable damage. Doval has effectively challenged foreign media to disprove this by producing even a single photograph of a broken glass pane on the Indian side.
By the evening of 10 May, the reality of India’s escalation dominance had set in. A battered Pakistani military was forced into damage-control mode, repeatedly seeking a ceasefire and pleading, “Please stop… you have already done so much damage on our side.”
A New Strategic Doctrine
Operation Sindoor was not a reactive piece of political theatre; it was a strategic demonstration of the Modi-Doval framework in full force. It proved three things:
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Total Intelligence Superiority: India has the capacity to map, isolate, and strike high-value targets deep inside hostile territory with pinpoint accuracy.
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Absolute Escalation Dominance: India now controls the escalation ladder. When Pakistan tried to raise the stakes with a religiously flavoured counter-offensive, India simply crushed their launch platforms.
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Unwavering Political Will: PM Modi’s resolve to pursue perpetrators—”whether on earth, in the sky or in hell”—has translated into a muscular military doctrine.
While the ISPR and Pakistani media desperately tried to spin Bunyān al-Marsūs as a “decisive response,” the facts on the ground are now indisputable. On 10 May 2025, before Pakistan could turn its Quranic slogan into a military reality, India had already decided the outcome. Operation Sindoor broke the back of the Pakistani offensive, cementing a new era of Indian proactive defence.