On October 30, India launched its ten-day-long tri-service exercise called 'Trishul'. Trishul means the tri-pointed spear of the Hindu deity Lord Shiva. These manoeuvres are taking place on the Pakistani border. Incidentally, this was also the day when the Afghan Taliban, oh our beloved brothers, chose to launch their aerial exercises on (you guessed it) the Pakistani border.

Coincidences can happen. And we will get back to them in a bit. However, to any student of military tactics, this must appear remarkably similar to what is known as a hammer-and-anvil strategy. Where one party pins you down and the other goes crazy. Granted, both have so far not resorted to open violence again; however, it is still a pressure tactic, an open threat of the so-called two-front war. But sure, coincidences are possible, and the Afghan Taliban are our brothers.

Let us return to the coincidences. It so happens that it was also the day when the reports of Russia testing its nuclear-powered and nuclear-capable torpedo called 'Poseidon' surfaced. To call it a torpedo is a gross injustice to it. Estimated to be 20 metres (65 feet) long and 2 metres (6.5 feet) in diameter, it is a nuclear-propelled and nuclear-armed autonomous underwater vehicle capable of generating a tsunami.

You may ask, what is the coincidence? What is the Greek sea god Poseidon best recognised by? Trident, three-pointed spear, or as some South Asians would look at it, his Trishul. Could the Russian Poseidon be busy in its waters while sending its Trishul to our border? Or could the Indian Trishul be possessing the Russian Poseidon to wreak havoc elsewhere? But this could also be a pure........

© The Express Tribune