This and to be fairly honest this forum is detached from the reality.
1. There can't be any limited war against Pakistan period (Only all out war) In that incident Pakistan will attempt to take all of India and India will try the same vice versa
2. The war will expand to Central Asia and what lays behind Pakistan will stream to it's assistance
3. Nuclear will be used and it will be severe warfare unlike anything the posters could even imagine and there will be nuclear winter failure of crops things will get harsh and it will turn into a very harsh conflict.
4. Anyone who thinks they can beat Pakistan blinded is an idiot without taking into consideration the regional players Central Asia, Bangladesh etc etc..
If I had to pick someone as the favourite at gun-point I would say Pakistan due to geo-political advantage and having a large unseen reservers.. It will be WW3 period there can't be any conflict between India and Pakistan without it being all out war and without it becoming a World war
All this with a defense budget less than the budget for UP state police? I donโt think so.
if india acts this is how it will be:
1. Economic embargo - warn that shipping lanes to Karachi are no longer safe- will increase shipping insurance cost ten times - meaning everything from gas to food to medicines will cost ten times more. This will lead to famine in which millions of Pakistanis will perish. This will make the entire Pakistani nation question their military and will lead to an internal civil war. Other than Punjab, there will be fights for freedom in all other provinces. Hungry people are instant suicide bombers.
2. Divert Indus River. Even diverting the river a little bit will lead to much reduced irrigation in Pakista. It will be very difficult for porkis to prove that Indus has been diverted as we will just point to climate change.
3. India is a top 5 shareholder in almost all international financial institutions. We will use our clout to block all financial assistance to Pakistan even more so than now via FATF.
4. Cripple all electronics and power distribution infrastructure through intense cyber attacks. This would mean no electricity supply for even major areas. Plus low flow of river water would mean major hydropower stations like Tarbela would not be able to produce power, plunging the nation into darkness.
After a situation of no food, no water, no electricity, no money is established for a few months, Indian armed forces will attack. I can assure you that Pak Armed Forces will surrender faster than they did in 1971. And, no, Chinese are not coming to their rescue as the US will warn them away. Russians, French, Israel as usual will solidly supply us during wartime.
The thing GoI does not enact this is because millions of Pakistanis will perish leading to a humanitarian disaster. But if a red line is crossed, india you can bet will start with increasing all sorts of costs for porkies, leading to mass starvation and untold poverty. The aim will be to make the masses turn against Porki armed forces and ignite all kinds of secession movements within Pakshitstan - natural when the poverty rate goes up to 70-80% and people barely have enough to eat 1 time a day.