The great Indian shame

As war correspondents stirred in newsrooms and the globe read through morning headlines on the morning of May 7, India’s military jets tore through the façade of peace and into Pakistani airspace. They dubbed it “Operation Sindoor,” a moniker steeped in martial mythology and Hindu iconography. It’s nine strikes. fatalities and injuries to civilians. One madrassa collapsed. A mosque was desecrated. For what purpose?

The official justification was quick: revenge for the deadly Pahalgam incident on April 22, which claimed the lives of Indian tourists in illegally Indian-occupied Jammu and Kashmir. However, a deeper look reveals India’s story more quickly than the hurriedly created maps behind a press conference podium.