"Older men declare war, but it's the youth that must fight and die." This bloodstained reminder by Herbert Hoover, the 31st American President, fell on deaf ears as the US continued to engage in wars throughout the remainder of the last century. Gen William Westmoreland, who led the US troops in Vietnam War, conceded, as an apologetic afterthought, that the military don't start war, politicians do.

Ever since the Pahalgam tragedy, politicians and the media at large on both sides of the Indo-Pak border are playing ping-pong of scathing rebukes and damning indictments with no convincing or irrefutable evidence to substantiate their allegations. People in the two countries are being brainwashed into believing one-sided narratives while demonising the other side.

We are transported into a magical land of half-truths. We seem to have capitulated to these half-truths and cover-ups because the entire truth is often too ugly. To add insult to injury, any attempt at reconciliation or a hand shake between the........

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