India’s post-Pahalgam Doctrine in the Shadow of Institutional Deficit

April 2025 attack in Pahalgam, which resulted in the loss of civil-security personnel, did not provoke an immediate retaliatory strike from India. This deviation from past patterns, such as the Balakot airstrike of 2019, has puzzled many analysts. While public expectations leaned towards a swift kinetic response, India maintained a calibrated silence. This restraint does not imply strategic inertia but suggests an evolving doctrine shaped by regional complexities, global alignments, and domestic political calculus. India’s hesitance is not a retreat but a reflection of the growing understanding that militarised responses do not resolve established patterns of cross-border insurgency.

Feasibility of Nuclear Weapons as Deterrents

Initially, it was considered as a new means of warfare with an unprecedented destructive power. In the Cold War period, the creation of Soviet nuclear weapons especially after the Cuban missile crisis forced the then two superpowers to reconsider their views regarding the use of nuclear weapons as an offensive measure. This article will assess the credibility of nuclear deterrence in today’s geopolitical turmoils