India to treat terror strike in future as 'Act of War'

India has decided that any future act of terror will be considered an ‘Act of War’ against the country and will be responded to accordingly, a decision which aligns with the Narendra Modi government’s zero tolerance for terror, official sources said on Saturday.

The decision holds a warning for Pakistan against backing terror strikes in the country and reminds Islamabad of a possible hit-back on the scale of ‘Operation Sindoor’ in case of any misadventure in the future.

PM Modi’s reported insistence to treat all future terror strikes as ‘Acts of War’ was endorsed by top military officials and Defence Minister Rajnath Singh during a meeting earlier in the day.

National Security Advisor (NSA) Ajit Doval, Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) General Anil Chauhan, the three service chiefs and chiefs of IB and RAW were also present to assess the success of the anti-terror ‘Operation Sindoor’ amid little signs of Pakistan trying to de-escalate tensions.

Chiefs of the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) shared details about the terrorists – including those wanted in the IC-814 flight’s hijack to Kandahar in 1999 – killed in 'Operation Sindoor' so far.

Interestingly, even the Council of Europe’s human rights manual treats Acts of War and terrorism on an equal scale.

The COE’s Manual for Human Rights Education with Young People states, “In many ways, war and terrorism are very similar. Both involve acts of extreme violence, both are motivated by political, ideological or strategic ends, and both are inflicted by one group of individuals against another. The consequences of each are terrible for members of the population – whether intended or not.”

In a related development, top global security analyst Michael Rubin told NDTV that India should adopt a tough stand against terror and take a leaf from Israel's book in its "war against terror".

While agreeing that India must continue its military operation -- Operation Sindoor -- to respond to each of Pakistan's escalations and misadventures along the Line of Control and International Border, Rubin said that in the long-run, PM Modi should consider what Israel's former PM Golda Meir had done after the 1972 Munich Olympic Games massacre.

Israel, he said, "quietly, over subsequent years, went out anywhere in the world to eliminate the terrorists who were responsible for that massacre. It took them over seven years", but they were relentless in their pursuit and pledged to hunt down the terrorists and kill them.

"I do think that Prime Minister Modi needs to take a playbook out of the late Golda Meir of Israel's hands," he said

The 1972 Munich massacre was a terrorist attack during the Summer Olympics in Munich, West Germany. The terror attack was a religiously motivated one against Jews. On September 5, 1972, eight members of the Palestinian terror group Black September invaded the Munich Olympic Village, taking 11 members of the Israeli Olympic team hostage.

A failed rescue attempt the following day left all 11 Israeli athletes, five terrorists, and one German policeman dead. Israel vowed to eliminate the terrorists, no matter where they were in the world. Mossad covert operations followed. Operation Bayonet, also known as Operation Wrath of God, took more than seven years of worldwide covert operations to kill the terrorists and their backers.