Reversing roles

Peering towards Pakistan

IF IT were not that India and Pakistan have been lobbing live mortar rounds at each other for the past few days, forcing the evacuation of thousands of villagers from border zones, or for the fact that both states are nuclear-armed, the latest jump in tension between the eternal rivals might seem silly. On September 29th India launched what an army spokesman called retaliatory “surgical strikes” against “terrorist launch-pads” in Pakistani-held territory. This followed an attack by Pakistan-based fighters two weeks earlier that had left 19 Indian soldiers dead and prompted angry Indian calls for revenge.

But in a reversal of typical roles the apparent victim, Pakistan, denied that any such deadly Indian raids had taken place; it dispatched reporters to the border to check for themselves—under strict supervision, naturally. This embarrassed India’s government, which had won thundering applause from local media when it announced the revenge attacks. One animated cartoon pictured a giant prime minister Narendra Modi flicking his mosquito-borne Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, into oblivion....Continue reading

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