A WEEK later, the uncertainty continues, even as there are observations galore that temperatures have come down a bit. There have been calls and advice from allies and friends, to both Islamabad and New Delhi, suggesting talking instead of issuing threats and banging war drums. And not all advice can be ignored, as South Asians well know, especially from the Americans, who have a history of hand-holding South Asians through their stand-offs.

This is not all. On the Pakistani side, government officials are no longer publicly providing a countdown of when an attack is suspected, while the info minister is also boasting of victory of the bayania (a word which has made a smooth transition from the PTI-PML-N stage to the international one) in the tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

On the Indian side, too, some events suggest a de-escalation, or is being interpreted as such. The cabinet security committee meeting ended with the prime minister authorising freedom to the military to decide on the response. This was followed by another meeting which announced a caste survey, something the BJP had been resisting and the opposition party, the Congress had been asking for. Why the government would yield on such a key opposition demand, at this time, is intriguing. But this is still not reason enough to crack open the Rooh Afza on our side of the border.

The........

© Dawn