Crash is a crash. But not always.

This week an Indian air force Tejas jet crashed during the Dubai air show. Tragically, the pilot lost his life. Six months ago, Pakistan Air Force pilots shot down at least three IAF Rafale jets and four more aircraft, and they crashed somewhere in Occupied Kashmir or nearby areas. The reactions to these different crashes from Pakistanis and Indians tell a story that encapsulates the complicated, convoluted and yet deceptively predictable relationship between the two neighbours.

The predictability part is fuelled by BJP government's ideologically drenched hate for Pakistan. Its leaders' rhetorical aggression, while dangerously inflammable, has become yawn-inducingly boring. To add some levity to the equation, now Indian generals have also jumped into the Maula Jutt chest-thumping routine. We stand amused.

Such amusement comes easy after witnessing Indian politicians, soldiers, journalists and frothing-at-the-mouth tele-warriors spin circles around themselves over Pakistan's downing of their jets in May. We derive vicarious pleasure in watching wannabe bullies get their comeuppance.

There is a certain linearity in the logic of war. It transcends natural human compassion. Indians created a war hysteria in April by other-ising Pakistan in a manner that spilled over from simple nationalism to outright bigotry. Inebriated by their own delusions of misplaced grandeur, and befooled by their own caricature of Pakistan, they initiated a conflict whose........

© The Express Tribune