Politics of Pageantry

On 26 January 2026, India commemorated its 77th Republic Day, the day when New Delhi officially became a republic through adoption of the constitution. The Republic Day parade was projected as the celebration of India’s progress and national pride. Yet, beyond the spectacle, the parade intended to convey a calibrated strategic and political signal by manufacturing an image of self-reliant and confident India amid regional uncertainty.

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Revisiting Operation Swift Retort: How Pakistan Outplayed India in 2019

The crisis of February 2019 was far more than a transient border skirmish; it was a fundamental clash of two divergent conceptions of strategic thought under a nuclear overhang. Indian objectives were clear: to win the election and try to create space for punitive actions for bigger aims under the nuclear threshold with the pretext of labelling Pakistan as a terrorist-harbouring state. 

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Seven Years and Counting: How PAF has Reshaped Aerial Warfare

‘What all could have happened if we had Rafale?’ This statement by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi surfaced after the 2019 India-Pakistan aerial showdown. The Indian Air Force’s (IAF) failed airstrikes near Balakot met a swift broad daylight response by the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) under Operation Swift Retort.

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