Things that India can do better than 2019
Manage the information space better
Pak went on the offensive from day 1 with the Balakot killed crows and trees narrative, IAF could not release photos of the BDA for a few days allowing Pak to run wild.
The whole Doosra banda mess. The scoop hungry media picked up the Shahaz ud Din BS intentionally peddled by Pak and it led to India losing the plot. This lesson hasnt been learnt, evident from the shit heads who went overboard sharing the Chinese Galwan casualty list which perversely had feminine names in it.
Indian armed forces long used to selectively releasing information to media in press conferences need to recognize the digital space as yet another battlefield where they need to wage war - an information war if they are to prevail in this new paradigm.
Manage the Indian population
One battle into the conflict, our population started candle marches for peace and Abhinandan's safe return showing the govt the public had no intention or stomach for a proper conflict. No govt can wage a respectable war if its civil population isn't interested.
Have a better control on the escalation matrix
An unpopular opinion which is going to make people uncomfortable and earn me brickbats. India has been hitting back for a long time. Only the govts of the day chose to keep those actions under the wraps to contain the fallout. Leaderji's first real action on Pak in 2016 which was publicised as a "Surgical Strike" while really being a cross border raid that killed a few terrorists / Pakistanis but did not meet any real goals.
Pak was able to downplay the hit and therefore chose to not publicly react.
After Balakot, India used the IAF to bomb PoK forcing Pak's hand. Pak's response - Op Swift Retort was a preplanned op, where PAF threw everything except the kitchen sink at India to make a rhetorical point. Both sides decided to call it a day since neither side had the heart for a real conflict. Both sides went on the overdrive claiming victory while in reality both sides had lost
India had effectively flushed the Nuke deterrence peddled by Pak down the toilet. Pak had saved face by managing to match India strike for strike.
Neither side met their stated objectives. India did not deter further terror attacks. Pak wasnt able to scare off India.
The only achievement of both sides was kicking the can down the road. Which brings us to 2025.
Pak's list of grievances is long - Unknown gunmen, the Train hijack in Balochistan where service members were identified and killed were blamed on India. Its the easy way out for Pak which doesnt want to accept responsibility for the hot mess it has made in Balochistan.
Asim Munir facing internal strife and a weakening support base took a Hail Mary and bet the collective future of the Jernails / Fauji group on a pair of fives.
Now both sides find themselves at crossroads. For their own reasons, both sides have chosen their paths and now find themselves riding a tiger they cant get off.
India's ruling party long projecting a strongman image can ill afford to back down. Pak Army long projecting itself as the sole guardian of Pakistan can ill afford to look weak especially after chickening out during the 370 episode.
Both sides have chosen to publicize actions that should have been kept under the wraps to allow additional maneuvering room. In doing so they have lowered the threshold with each episode.
Uri - India launched a cross border raid. No biggie raids happened before. But this raid was publicly announced and celebrated. Pak was reduced to disputing the impact and claiming it was a minor event.
Pulwama - India launched air strikes. Pak already unhappy at its deterrence being eroded launched counter strike using a mission that was preplanned and gamed. But eager to avoid a showdown chose to dilute the impact and drop duds on empty ground. The wildcard was the MiG-21 F-16 clash whose outcome depends on the flag the reader supports.
This brings us to Pahalgam. The Indian public expects meaningful action - something that addresses the complaints of 2019. Pak wants to address the massive beating the Pak army image has taken in the recent times. Neither side has any room for concessions.
Bottom line - With every public action, the threshold for a conflict gets lower. Like a stock being traded on the market where the shareholders expect not just a profit but a percentage increase on the profit from the previous financial year, the voters expect stronger action than the one offered on the previous flashpoint.
So far the GoI has managed to keep the pressure at bay while it works on its options. What will ultimately decide the outcome is how well the GoI manages to keep control of the plot.
No plan survives first contact. Lets see how GoI fares post Zero Hour.