Modern warfare is no longer confined to battlefields alone; it increasingly trespasses into the daily lives of civilians. The deliberate targeting of non-combatants marks one of the gravest breaches of international law, undermining both humanitarian principles and the global rules-based order.
In May 2025, India's Operation Sindoor inflicted precisely such a violation. By striking homes, mosques, marketplaces and essential services, the operation resulted in the deaths of at least 40 civilians in Pakistan and Azad Jammu & Kashmir.
These deaths were not incidental or collateral but rather the foreseeable outcome of strikes on spaces where no military objective was present.
The consequences of such actions extend far beyond the immediate loss of life. They erode the credibility of the global rules-based order, normalise impunity and set a dangerous precedent in which humanitarian protections are seen as optional rather than obligatory.
In an era when conflicts extend across land, air, cyber and information domains, the erosion of humanitarian principles threatens to redraw the boundaries of acceptable wartime conduct in profoundly destructive ways.
From a legal perspective, the case against Operation Sindoor is clear. Article 2(4) of the UN Charter prohibits the use of force against another state's sovereignty, while Article 51 permits self-defence only in the case of an armed attack. By invoking Article 51 to justify its strikes, India misused international law. Terrorism, however grave, does not constitute an armed attack justifying interstate military aggression unless state involvement can be credibly established.
In the case of the Pahalgam incident, no credible evidence was presented linking Pakistan to the events. Instead, a tragedy on Indian soil was used as a pretext for cross-border strikes, violating the letter and spirit of international law.
The Geneva Conventions offer even clearer prohibitions. Articles 15, 27 and 32–34, as well as Common Article 3, explicitly protect civilians from being targeted, tortured, or collectively punished. Operation Sindoor’s strikes on civilian neighbourhoods and religious sites fell squarely within the ambit of prohibited conduct.
The international community cannot afford to treat such violations as routine features of conflict. Doing so would render the protections enshrined in humanitarian law meaningless, reducing them to aspirational ideals rather than enforceable obligations.
The moral stakes are equally stark. When civilians — women fetching water, children at play and families in prayer — become deliberate targets, war ceases to be fought between armies and instead becomes a campaign against humanity itself.
The normalisation of this practice has grave implications for global security. It sets in motion a cycle of retaliation, radicalisation and perpetual instability, while also undermining the credibility of states that claim to uphold human rights.
The wider geopolitical context also demands scrutiny. Operation Sindoor does not stand alone; it is part of a broader pattern of policies that marginalise and dehumanise Muslim populations in South Asia.
The parallels with other theatres of conflict, particularly Israel's operations in Palestine, are difficult to ignore. In both cases, civilians are dehumanised by being labelled as "terrorists" or "collateral damage", a rhetorical sleight of hand that masks systematic violations of humanitarian law.
The erosion of norms in one conflict invariably spills over into others, weakening the global architecture of accountability.
The lessons for Pakistan are urgent. First, there is a need for systematic legal preparedness. Attribution and documentation are the building blocks of accountability.
Without evidence, photographs, testimonies and forensic records, claims of civilian targeting risk are dismissed as political rhetoric. Legal audits, structured dossiers and independent investigations must form the backbone of Pakistan’s case at international forums.
Institutions such as the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court may not guarantee swift justice, but they do provide platforms to establish a legal record that can influence global opinion and policy.
This urgency was echoed at a recent seminar hosted by the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI) on "Civilian Protection in Multidomain Conflicts: Legal and Humanitarian Perspectives on Operation Sindoor".
Ambassador Sohail Mahmood, the director general of ISSI, underlined the need for Pakistan to build stronger diplomatic coalitions to highlight these violations at multilateral forums.
In his concluding remarks, Mr Ahmer Bilal Soofi, former minister for law and justice, emphasised the importance of structured legal documentation and preparedness so that Pakistan can effectively pursue accountability under international humanitarian law.
Second, Pakistan must recalibrate its diplomatic strategy. Reliance on bilateralism with India has repeatedly failed to deliver accountability. Multilateral platforms – the UN, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and even regional groupings — offer more viable avenues to amplify Pakistan’s concerns.
Diplomatic outreach must connect Operation Sindoor with the broader continuum of India’s human rights record in Kashmir, its treatment of minorities, and its use of water as a coercive tool. Building coalitions of states around these issues can generate momentum where unilateral protests cannot.
Third, narrative-building is central. International law operates not only in courts but also in the court of public opinion. Stories of victims, families displaced, children orphaned and communities destroyed carry moral weight that statistics alone cannot convey.
Social media platforms, international media outlets and civil society organisations are critical in transforming legal arguments into compelling narratives that resonate globally. Without this, the human dimension of such tragedies risks being drowned out by the noise of geopolitics.
Finally, Pakistan must strengthen its own internal resilience. Civilian protection is a matter of national cohesion, not just of law and diplomacy. Divided societies are less capable of advocating for their citizens abroad. Stronger social unity, economic resilience and institutional capacity are essential to ensure that external advocacy is matched by internal stability.
A country perceived as fractured and unstable will struggle to gain sympathy for its victims, no matter how just their cause.
Operation Sindoor raises questions that go beyond the immediate tragedy of May 2025. It asks whether the international community is prepared to uphold the humanitarian principles it so often invokes. It asks whether powerful states will be held to the same standards as weaker ones, or whether selective enforcement will continue to hollow out the legitimacy of international law.
Most of all, it asks whether civilians in conflict zones can ever expect the protections promised to them by treaties and conventions.
For Pakistan, the path ahead is clear. Legal recourse, diplomatic outreach and narrative-building must work in tandem. None of these tools alone can secure accountability, but together they can challenge impunity and preserve the principle that civilians must never be the targets of war. Operation Sindoor was an attack on the idea that war has limits.
Allowing such an act to pass unchallenged would invite repetition, not only in South Asia but wherever powerful states choose to bend the rules.
Civilian protection, therefore, must remain at the heart of Pakistan’s foreign policy and national security strategy.
It is not only a legal imperative but also a moral one. To defend civilians is to defend the very principle of humanity in war. Operation Sindoor has tested that principle. The response must reaffirm it, with clarity and conviction, before the erosion of humanitarian norms becomes irreversible.
Disclaimer: The viewpoints expressed in this piece are the writer's own and don't necessarily reflect Geo.tv's editorial policy.
The writer is a public policy expert and leads the Country Partner Institute of the World Economic Forum in Pakistan. He posts amirjahangir and can be reached at: ajmishal.com.pk