India has long championed a foreign policy rooted in strategic autonomy—an approach that prioritizes sovereignty, non-alignment, and independent decision-making over formal alliances or geopolitical bloc politics. This doctrine, deeply rooted in India’s post-colonial identity and Cold War

The bodies weren’t even cold in Pahalgam when the world began drafting its familiar eulogies. Twenty-six lives, mostly Indian, cut down by terrorists in Kashmir’s once-bustling tourist belt. Mothers. Children. A Nepali tourist who had dreams of returning home. What followed was the usual diplomatic theatre: “We condemn the act of terror,” they said. “Our