Any terror attack originating from Pakistan to be considered act of war: India’s Rajnath
“Those contemplating any form of misadventure will be met with a response they deserve,” says the minister.
Any terror attack originating from Pakistani soil will be considered an act of war against India and will be met with a deserving response, Indian Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said on Thursday (24 September).
Addressing a defence conclave in New Delhi, he said India's counter-terrorism approach has evolved beyond strategic containment and deterrence by denial to deterrence by punishment.
Rajnath said India articulated its "new" policy against terrorism through the Operation Sindoor military operation against Pakistan in May last year.
Keep updated, follow The Business Standard's Google news channel
"Those contemplating any form of misadventure will be met with a response they deserve," he added.
Operation Sindoor was carried out in May 2025, more than a month after a terror attack left 26 people dead in the popular mountain resort of Pahalgam in India's Jammu and Kashmir region in April that year.
The minister said the concepts of strength and peace, which were never seen as contradictory in Indian tradition, were viewed as mutually exclusive alternatives by some leaders after independence.
He noted that several wars imposed on India were a lesson that security policy cannot be formulated based on wishful thinking and it needs to take into account ground realities and national interests.
Rajnath said military preparedness without diplomacy can lead to confrontation and a security dilemma, whereas proceeding solely on the basis of diplomacy without requisite capability, is perceived as a sign of weakness and is detrimental to national security.
A balance between the two is essential, he added.
