Religion became a major factor in the recent military encounter between India and Pakistan. Analysts said that the popular mood in Pakistan was a key factor as the government weighed whether and where to retaliate against its larger, more powerful rival when India used its air force to launch attacks on Pakistan in early May.

Many Pakistanis applauded the military's response to the Indian strikes. Some took to the streets to applaud actions against a country that was poorly treating its large Muslim minority. In Islamabad, authorities urged citizens to join the civil defence brigades. The United States and China called for a diplomatic solution, but it was unclear who would lead those efforts.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio spoke with both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Jaishankar, the Indian foreign minister. "At this moment in time, there is one thing that has to stop which is a back-and-forth and a continuation, and that is what we are focused on right now," State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce said in a news briefing on May 8.

Other countries with interest in keeping peace in South Asia also got involved with both India and Pakistan as the two were drifting towards a military confrontation. Jaishankar was approached by Adel al-Jubeir, Saudi Arabia's minister of state for foreign affairs, for an unannounced visit to Delhi. He also met with the Iranian foreign minister, Syed Abbas Aragchi.

The Modi government in India was using all the means at its disposal to paint a positive picture of its situation with respect to Pakistan. Modi sought to........

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