Aparna Pande, and Vinay Kaura
The most populous country, the world’s fourth-largest economy, and the fourth-largest military has long been an enigma for external observers. India is a civilizational state, but unlike other such states—China, Iran, Russia, and Turkey—India is a status quo power, not a revisionist one. Even on the Indian subcontinent, where India perceives itself as the hegemon, it has been a benevolent one and has not tried to unilaterally alter its borders with its neighbors.
This applies even to India’s western neighbor, Pakistan, the country that was carved out of historical India. Despite intense provocation from and four days of fighting with Pakistan in May, the Indian government’s responses remained measured, and its press statements could even be described as anodyne.
Terror attacks inside India are not new, and the Pakistani deep state’s support for anti-India terror groups is equally well-documented. For decades, India chose to respond to this sponsored terrorism with strategic restraint and diplomacy. Even after the Modi government adopted a more retributive approach in 2016, the change was more symbolic than transformative. Restraint was maintained in 2016, 2019, and again in 2025, even as India ascended the escalation ladder each time.
The emotional rhetoric that accompanies any military tension between India and Pakistan can make anyone suspicious of the notion that India’s posture towards Pakistan is rooted in pragmatic realism. However, New Delhi’s historical preference for regional stability was on clear display when, after four days of fighting, it promptly agreed to a ceasefire.
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