Winning Hearts and Minds
But while we isolate Pakistan’s military and political elite, we must be very clear: we are not at war with the people of Pakistan. The ordinary Pakistani must know that this is not India lashing out in hatred. This is India stepping up to protect its own people. In fact, India must go further, we must make it known, loudly and repeatedly, that our doors remain open to the people of Pakistan in times of humanitarian need. Be it a medical emergency, an academic opportunity, or a crisis situation, India has always been there. Sushma Swaraj showed us how soft power diplomacy could work. Her Twitter diplomacy opened India’s hospitals to Pakistanis who had no options left, and in that moment, hearts changed. Hostility was replaced by humanity. That spirit must remain at the centre of our public narrative. Let them know: we will fight your generals with steel, but we will receive your children with open arms.

Economic Strangulation
And while the moral stance holds firm, the economic playbook must be sharper, cleaner, and far more ruthless. Let’s call it what it is, Pakistan is on economic life support, wheezing under the weight of its own mismanagement, suffocating in debt, surviving only on IMF bailouts and Chinese drip feeds. This isn’t a state with a strategy, it’s a system on a ventilator. And now is the time for India to step in, not with slogans, but with surgical precision. The pressure has to be institutional, not emotional. Trade sanctions that bite. Investment freezes that sting. Technology bans that isolate. The world has done it before, with Iran, with Russia. There is no reason it cannot be done with Pakistan.

But here’s the bigger play, India is not just a moral power, it’s becoming an economic one. As of 2024, India is growing at around 7.8% annually, one of the fastest rates in the world. According to Morgan Stanley, India is projected to become the third-largest economy by 2027 with a GDP of over $5 trillion, and $7.5 trillion by 2031. That’s not a blip, that’s a juggernaut. Backed by a youth bulge where over 65% of the population is under 35, a massive working-age population that will dominate global labor markets for the next 30 years, and an educated, technically skilled workforce trained in everything from software to semiconductors, India has everything going for it.

This makes it a market no superpower can afford to ignore. Not the Americans. Not the Europeans. Not even the Russians. And so the ask is simple, you want access to a billion-strong market, you want to ride our growth, you want trade deals with negligible tariffs, then align with us. And in return, align against those who continue to house, fund, and export terror. No more IMF bailouts for Pakistan. No more development loans. Squeeze every dollar, every yuan, every Euro, until the system is too broke to shelter terrorists. Economic strangulation not for revenge, but for reform. India must now learn to use its market muscle as a foreign policy tool, to shape the rules of global engagement. Because unlike Pakistan, we have a future to invest in.

A Denuclearized State
And the most important, most uncomfortable conversation must now begin, one that’s been avoided for too long. Pakistan’s nuclear weapons. The world came dangerously close to hearing threats of nuclear retaliation during Operation Sindoor. That alone should shake every policymaker awake. These weapons are not in the hands of a civilian democracy. They’re with a volatile military, influenced by extremism, ideology, and insecurity. This is not deterrence. This is blackmail. India must now put denuclearization of Pakistan at the very top of its foreign policy priority list, not because we want to weaken them, but because the region cannot afford this roulette game any longer. And we must not stand alone on this. The Americans, Europeans, Russians, everyone who claims to care about global security must be made to join this mission.

Rebuild Trust in South Asia
At the same time, India cannot afford to take its eyes off its own backyard. South Asia, once firmly in India’s zone of influence, is now drifting. China is encroaching. Pakistan is meddling. India must reinvest, politically, economically, emotionally, in its relationships with Nepal, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Afghanistan, Maldives, and Sri Lanka. Offer them trade deals they can’t refuse. Share our IT expertise, satellite technology, and infrastructure support. Give them access to our markets on highly concessional terms. And build a development agency, our own South Asia-specific version of USAID, to pump resources and goodwill into the region, fast.

Revive SARC, but without illusions. Make it functional and freeze out those who abuse the spirit of regional cooperation. A South Asia that grows together, without Pakistan, sends a far louder message than any missile ever can.

Arms Sales Embargo
Militarily, the message must be equally firm: nations that sell arms to Pakistan are, by extension, enabling terror. India must sign pacts with defence manufacturers around the world and push for a de facto embargo on weapon sales to Pakistan, until it demonstrates irreversible dismantling of its terror infrastructure. And yes, in return, we open our vast markets. A billion-strong democracy offering tech, trade, and trust, but only to those who value peace.

Shape the Narrative
Finally, India must learn to fight the war of perception. Operation Sindoor was a textbook military success. But Pakistan, ever media-savvy, hijacked the digital conversation within hours, claiming false victories, flooding social media, muddying the truth. In this new age of narrative warfare, perception is power. We cannot afford to be slow. India needs rapid-response digital teams. Influencers in every language. Smart content. Sharp memes. Fast rebuttals. Tactical leaks. We need to dominate, not defend. Set the tone, not follow it. The world needs to hear our version of the truth before the lies even begin.

This is a new war. Not of bullets and bombs, but of bandwidth and belief. And in this war, weakness isn’t an option. Not anymore.

India is not here to destroy. India is here to build. But we will no longer build bridges for others to bomb. We will no longer be the quiet giant. The world has changed. So must we.

And it begins with a truth we must repeat again and again, we will never forget Pahalgam. But even more importantly, we will never let it happen again.

Let’s be clear. Pahalgam wasn’t just another attack, it was a rupture. A moment that tore through the soul of a nation. Twenty-six lives, pilgrims, civilians, people like you and me, taken in one cruel, calculated act of terror. And this wasn’t just about bullets and bombs. It was about sending a message. And so, India responded. And not with hashtags or hollow speeches. Operation Sindoor was swift, silent, and decisive. Precision airstrikes, terror camps reduced to rubble, diplomatic ties frozen, trade stopped, the sacred Indus Waters Treaty suspended. But once the dust settles, the real test begins, the long road ahead.

A Diplomatic Surgical Strike
Because what India needs now is not another airstrike. What we need is a war of another kind, a diplomatic, economic, political war, waged not in fury, but with focus. This is not about vengeance. This is about vision. It's time we stop treating diplomacy like a sidekick and start treating it like the frontline weapon it is. And this starts by isolating the Pakistani state, its government, its military, and its manufactured narratives, not out of hatred, but out of necessity.

India needs to start laying the groundwork for a clear, time-bound foreign policy, one that doesn’t just react, but builds. Every handshake, every trade deal, every multilateral negotiation should carry a subtext: are you with the world’s largest democracy or with a failing military regime pretending to be one? This will require lobbying, not just with governments but with think tanks, research institutions, and influencers across Washington, Brussels, Moscow, and beyond. We must fund narratives. We must frame them. Because the world must start understanding that Pakistan isn’t just struggling politically, it’s imploding. While the world has armies that serve nations, in Pakistan, the army owns the nation. That distinction needs to echo from Capitol Hill to every UN corridor.