Pakistan also didn’t act after the terror attacks in Uri and Pulwama. If the targets in Pathankot and Uri were security personnel, the attackers killed unarmed civilians in Pahalgam. In that sense, Pahalgam is a smaller version of the Mumbai attacks — terrorists with cross-border links massacring innocent people. The difference in Pahalgam is that the attackers specifically targeted Hindus, perhaps to trigger a Hindu-Muslim divide elsewhere.

Whenever Pakistani leaders bring up their own casualties and losses in their fight against terrorism, they would do well to remember that it is their own military and political establishment that has freely allowed terrorists to set up networks and proliferate across the country. They could make a start by rooting out this terrorist infrastructure on their soil that has caused devastation in India and beyond. If Islamabad is serious about preventing a further slide in relations and retribution from India, whether non-militaristic or militaristic, it should show some convincing proof that it is serious about dismantling this terrorist infrastructure and bringing to justice terrorist leaders. Rhetorical responses from Pakistan, first by the army chief, then the defence minister, and now the prime minister, do not help in any manner. There is a difference between diplomacy and lying.