Operation Sindoor and the Geopolitics of Narrative: Framing India and Pakistan in Global Media
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Following the deadly April 22, 2025, terrorist attack in Pahalgam, Kashmir, carried out by The Resistance Front (TRF), an offshoot of the Pakistan-backed Lashkar-e-Taiba, which resulted in the deaths of 26 civilians, India launched Operation Sindoor. From India’s perspective, this operation, which began on May 7, 2025, was a calibrated military intervention targeting terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan in response to the initial provocation. Yet global media coverage portrayed India as the aggressor, downplaying the April terror attack. This study analyzes 16 international media articles to examine framing strategies adopted by prominent global outlets during Operation Sindoor. Using thematic analysis, the research identifies three dominant frames shaping global coverage: aggressor–victim, hyphenation, and decontextualized violence. Drawing on media framing theory and broader civilizational perspectives, this study reflects critically on how pervasive narrative choices in international media flatten asymmetries and obscure causality. The reasons are analyzed through the lens of historical post-World War II alliances like India-Russia and US-Pakistan and contextualized within the dynamics of Western hegemony and India's growing stature as a global power. Keywords: Operation Sindoor, India–Pakistan Hyphenation, Decontextualized violence, Global media narratives, Geopolitics
Source: Journal of Contemporary Politics
Institution: Indus University
Language: English
Subfield: Communication
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W4415546331