VICTORY RESTRAINED  (English, Paperback, SHASHANKA SHEKHAR PANDA)

VICTORY RESTRAINED: A Study Of The Coherence Of Bharatiya Diplomacy In Strategic Messaging In Operation Sindoor What happens when battlefield dominance is buried beneath diplomatic mis-signaling ? In May 2025, India launched a blistering three-day military campaign against Pakistan following the horrific Pahalgam massacre. Operation Sindoor demonstrated precision and overwhelming force. But just as India seized the strategic high ground, an abrupt and sudden ceasefire was announced - brokered not by battlefield fatigue, but by bureaucratic fiat. Victory Restrained dissects this unexplained pivot with surgical precision. It reveals how India’s military brilliance was blunted by a parallel—and possibly premeditated - diplomatic track that circumvented political leadership and silenced momentum. Drawing on timelines, internal power structures, and strategic signaling failures, this brief explores how institutional asymmetries between the MEA and the armed forces unraveled India's long-term leverage. This is not a war memoir. This is not a think-tank white paper. This is a strategic autopsy of a victory restrained. A must-read for military analysts, foreign policy thinkers, and anyone who still believes that battlefield success equals geopolitical advantage. Wars are not lost in trenches. They’re lost in the meeting rooms — by minds that blink. Read less