Special Forces Raids, Airstrikes and Missiles: How can India Retaliate to Pahalgam Massacre?

Kashmir, India - On April 22, 2025, the valley town of Pahalgam turned into a killing field as Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists gunned down 26 unarmed civilians in cold blood. Forensic teams confirmed military-grade weaponry, encrypted Pakistani comms gear, and US-sourced M4 rifles—clear signs of a well-supported foreign-backed assault. This wasn’t an isolated act of terror. It was a deliberate extension of Pakistan’s decades-old playbook—export jihad, then deny accountability with diplomatic theatrics.

But India is not the same country that issued dossiers and waited for condolences. The strategic options before New Delhi today are neither limited nor restrained. It is a question of how—not if—India will retaliate. And Pakistan would do well to watch closely. India's Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has made it clear- “Indian Government will take every necessary and appropriate step. We will not stop at those who carried out this attack. Will reach those who, sitting behind the curtains, conspire to carry out such nefarious acts on the soil of India.”

Precision Airstrikes: Balakot Playbook, Reloaded

The first and most probable strike option is one Pakistan is all too familiar with—airstrikes. Just as Balakot shattered the illusion of cross-border immunity in 2019, India could again send its Mirage 2000s or Su-30 MKIs deep into Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), this time with newer coordinates and heavier payloads.

Pakistan's active terror training infrastructure in Kotli, Nikial, and Jura have already been in India's high-resolution satellite scanner. These aren’t ramshackle huts—these are full-fledged camps with instructors from Pakistan’s Special Services Group (SSG), arms supplied via Afghan trafficking routes, and comms routed through Muzaffarabad nodes. A wave of precision-guided munitions could flatten them in minutes. This time, however, India might not remain silent post-op. Visual confirmation, wreckage analysis, and on-ground surveillance could be used as part of a public retaliatory narrative, forcing global eyes onto Pakistan’s open complicity.

Special Forces Raids: Hitting Terror at Breathing Distance

The other option that could trigger short-term shockwaves in Rawalpindi is a surgical strike, akin to the 2016 raid post-Uri. This would mean deploying elite Para SF teams across the LoC to neutralise active Lashkar launch pads or eliminate specific handlers known to be coordinating with field operatives in South Kashmir.

Indian Army intelligence units already maintain dossiers on commanders like Abu Hamza, Saifullah and  their handlers operating out of Forward areas of Pakistan ,adjoining Kahuta and Leepa. Striking them surgically, leaving signatures of precision and professionalism, would send an unmistakable message: your jihad won’t be outsourced without consequence. It would also reaffirm New Delhi’s doctrine that tactical deniability won’t shield strategic pain.

Missile Diplomacy: A Message Carved in Steel

Though unused so far in a direct retaliation scenario, India’s missile arsenal remains a pointed option. The BrahMos cruise missile and the newer Pralay tactical missile can reach deep into terror heartlands across PoK or even further into Pakistani territory with surgical precision.

Targets could include logistics depots, ammunition dumps, or even ISI-coordinated safehouses in Gilgit-Baltistan. The escalation risk is higher, no doubt, but after Pahalgam, restraint may only be read as a weakness. If Pakistan claims to not be involved, then it should have no objection to India neutralising “rogue actors” within its borders. Unless, of course, those actors aren’t rogue at all—but state-sanctioned weapons of hybrid warfare.

Diplomacy Alone? That Ship Has Sailed

For years, India has built water-tight dossiers on Pakistani complicity—from Kasab’s confession to Pulwama's IED trail, from Pathankot’s airbase breach to Uri’s dawn assault. Yet every diplomatic effort has hit the same wall: a denial-ridden military state that funds, trains, and shelters terrorists while posturing as a victim.

The Financial Action Task Force (FATF) may have grey-listed Islamabad, but as long as terror cash flows through hawala and narcotics into Kashmir, and as long as groups like TRF exist to give Pakistan plausible deniability, no amount of talking will stop the dying. If anything, Pahalgam was Pakistan’s latest reminder that the cost of waiting is paid in blood.

Rawalpindi’s Double Game Is Over: Retaliation Is Now a Necessity

Let’s not mince words—this wasn’t just a terror strike. This was a calibrated message from Rawalpindi’s war room, timed with General Asim Munir’s venomous anti-Hindu rhetoric and America’s Vice President JD Vance’s visit to India. The optics were deliberate. The targets were symbolic. And the silence from Pakistan’s civilian regime? Deafening.

India has held back long enough. But after Pahalgam, the burden of proof is no longer on New Delhi—it’s on Islamabad to prove that its soil isn’t a launchpad for murder. And until it does, it must prepare to pay the price for every bullet fired by the proxies it continues to arm and shelter.

Watch - Maj Gen GD Bakshi’s Explosive Ultimatum to Pak: Brick by Brick, Bullet by Bullet | Pahalgam Terror Attack