For those not very well schooled in strategy, especially the nuclear strategy, Escalation Ladder (EL)' is the ratcheting up of hostilities through rhetoric and actions between two potential belligerents. Where each side, assuming the potential response of the other side, climbs up higher on the imaginary two-sided EL, by making the cost of potential aggression unbearable for the other side.

This phenomenon is at work in case of India and Pakistan, where India through a wide-ranging diplomatic maneuver externally, and the use of media — all forms — internally and regionally, created a psychosis, a hype for a revenge war against Pakistan, for any assumed terrorist acts, without substantial evidence or evidence at all. It happened in 2019 after the Pulwama terrorist attacks and it happened now after the April 22 Pahalgam attack on tourists.

So, after almost a fortnight of saber rattling, Indian Air Force (IAF) using around 80 aircraft struck around nine targets in six cities, 'presumably' using the BVR (beyond visual range) munitions without crossing the LoC in AJK, and international border in Punjab, closer to Lahore, Sialkot and Bahawalnagar in 'Operation Sindoor'.

The targets selected included religious schools ostensibly run by the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), the mother organisation behind 'The Resistance Group (TRF)', the obscure militant group that took responsibility for the Pahalgam carnage. A total of 26 Pakistani civilians were killed. PAF responded with grit and resolve targeting Indian Army positions and downed almost five IAF planes including state-of-the-art Rafael jets.

Indian Foreign Secretary along with ranking military officials briefed the media, after the........

© The Express Tribune