The four-day Indo-Pak War 2025, was the first war between two nuclear-armed countries. This war was unique for another reason also; troops of no country crossed the borders of the other, and the war was fought entirely with aircraft, missiles and drones. The short duration, and unusual character of hostilities, has resulted in myriad ‘what if’ scenarios being passionately debated; for one, there has been intense speculation whether there would have been a nuclear war had the conflict continued for a few more days. The animosity between India and Pakistan dates back to the time of their creation.

Following Gandhian principles, India trod a peaceful path, and ultimately became a military and economic power; contrarily, Pakistan took the path of militarism and religious extremism, and soon morphed into a rogue state openly sponsoring terrorism, and deploying terrorists as a part of State policy. At the time of the Cold War, Western powers, particularly the USA, viewed Pakistan as a bulwark against Russia, and deliberately shut their eyes to Pakistan’s shenanigans. Taking full advantage of the situation, Pakistan would often strike India directly, or through terrorists, and when India retaliated, like in Kargil, Pakistan would shamelessly play the victim card.

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After the Cold War era, Pakistan has ceased to be a valuable asset for the West. Therefore, Western powers have often left Pakistan to fend for itself; no Western help was forthcoming after the Indian surgical strike, in 2016, or the Balakot airstrike, in 2019. While not abandoning America fully, a miffed Pakistan has wal – ked into the Chinese camp. Sometimes, like the Mumbai bombers of 26/11, Pakistani terrorists have inadvertently, or otherwise, targeted US citizens. In such cases, Pakistan adopted a totally different approach ~ it cooperated fully with US authorities, e.g., in the case of David Headley and Tahawwur Rana.

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More recently, Pakistan deported the dreaded terrorist Mohammed Sharifullah who was involved in the Abbey Gate suicide bombing during the 2021 withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan ~ an attack that took the lives of 13 US Army men, and also the suicide bombing at the Canadian embassy in Kabul in 2016. Sharifullah was also involved in the terrorist incident that killed 130 people in Moscow, in 2024. Therefore, Sharifullah........

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