India’s Cold Start Doctrine in Focus amid Tensions with Pakistan
EAM S Jaishankar with Iran's FM Seyed Araghchi (Image credit MEA, X)
Experts Weigh India’s Cold Start Doctrine Amid India-Pakistan Tension
By TRH News Desk
NEW DELHI, May 9, 2025 – Operation Sindoor has brought spotlight on India’s ‘Cold Start Doctrine’, a military strategy with origins to the aftermath of the parliament attack in 2001 by Pakistan sponsored terrorists. With India-Pakistan conflicts gaining scales with passing days since Operation Sindoor struck nine terror targets inside Pakistan and Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK), Cold Start Doctrine is inviting scrutiny of geopolitics observers.
Brigadier (Retd.) Gurmeet Kanwal, Director, Centre for Land Warfare Studies, New Delhi, in an article for Manohar Parrikar Institute for Defence Studies and Analysis had examined the concept of Cold Start doctrine.
“The doctrine was premised on two major elements. Certain readjustments were carried out to enhance the offensive operations capability of ‘Pivot’ corps (defensive or ground holding corps), so as to make it possible to launch offensive operations virtually from a ‘cold start’ to deny Pakistan the advantage of early mobilisation,” wrote Kanwal.
On X, Duygu Cagla Bayram, a geopolitical analyst, observed, “India wants to punish Pakistan with more than a spot operation but keep the conflict below the nuclear threshold. ‘Cold Start’ strategy, both in name and nature, reveals India’s intent to dominate the escalation ladder.”
Kanwal explained, saying that the idea meant combining “with moving Strike Corps cantonments closer to the border, enabling them to deploy quickly”.
“It is believed that the second element of the Cold Start doctrine conceptualises a number of ‘integrated battle groups’ (IBGs; divisional-size forces) launching limited offensive operations to a shallow depth, to capture a long swathe of territory almost all along the international boundary,” added Kanwal.
Michael Kugelman, Director of the South Asia Institute at the Wilson Center, told CNN, “India’s Cold Start is a calculated move to restore deterrence after attacks like Pahalgam, but Pakistan’s nuclear posturing complicates the calculus. Limited war could spiral if either side misreads intent.”
Kanwal also stated that the “success achieved by the IBGs would be exploited by one or more Strike Corps, where possible, but without crossing Pakistan’s nuclear red lines”.
Pakistan’s counter-strategy, as outlined in a 2019 Geo News report, relies on tactical nuclear weapons. Pakistan’s former minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed had claimed possession of “125-250 gram atom bombs” for battlefield use.
But India’s massive retaliation doctrine, promising overwhelming nuclear response to any nuclear first use, aims to call Pakistan’s bluff, argue geopolitical commentators.
Kanwal also argued in his article that the “captured territory would act as a bargaining chip to force Pakistan to wind down its institutional support to Jihadi elements”.
Geopolitical commentators are equating the manner in which Operation Sindoor has unfolded to the Cold Start Doctrine. “The overall aim would also be to destroy the Pakistan Army’s war waging potential through the application of asymmetric firepower from the ground and by way of massive air-to-ground battlefield air strikes,” added the military veteran in his article for the think-tank.
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