Letter from the Editor | June 2025

War polarizes. But perhaps never has a war or conflict polarized people within the country to the extent that Operation Sindoor did. Once the initial awe of air and missile strikes by the Indian military on Pakistan tapered a bit, questions about the intent and consequence of the attack were raised. Time-tested phrase, the fog of war, was duly employed to bypass questions and obfuscate the trickle of information emerging from independent sources. By the end of that week, it was clear that the government would not allow the fog to lift, because it did not want to admit to the possibility of losses suffered by the Indian Air Force.

Hence, information remained a one-way traffic. While in the beginning the government thought the symbolism of two women officers reading out texts in the name of media briefing would make up for the lack of information, subsequently it brought in officers in charge of operations from the three services to convey the sense of high-level dissemination of information. Except, one kind of symbolism was replaced by another. Questions were still discouraged. The consequence is that wild rumours have been flying fast and thick. Interestingly, many of these have originated from quasi-official sources. For instance, the report doing rounds of several television channels and attributed to nobody. It claims destruction of several Pakistan Air Force assets, including platforms and personnel. Since the report is unattributed, no evidence is needed to circulate it among fellow country people. In this sense, Operation Sindoor redefined the concept of information and psychological warfare, both of which are being waged on the people of India.

Given this, it was only sensible that the June issue of FORCE looks at Operation Sindoor in a dispassionate manner. Hence, the ensemble cover story looks at what happened, how it happened and what it portends for the future. There is an official perspective on how India changed the security dynamics in South Asia by imposing punitive costs on Pakistan for its proxy war, as well as the FORCE perspective on why far from that, the new normal created by Operation Sindoor has made India more vulnerable.

While the nation was glued to the news from India-Pakistan conflict, another major operation went almost unnoticed. Under the over-arching umbrella of Operation Kagar in Chhattisgarh-Telangana region, the CRPF and the state police forces undertook Operation Black Wood in the forested hills Karegutta straddling the two states. Over 30 alleged Maoists were killed in this. And within a few days of that, in another encounter, which some critics have called staged, 27 ultras were gunned down. Among them was the 70-year-old Maoist leader Basavaraju, who carried the bounty of Rs 1 crore. The details are wrapped in the denseness of the Abujmadh forest. What we have for now is the government assertion that Left Wing Extremism will be wiped out from India by 31 March 2026. Read on. Stay safe.