Count on India to use the Pakistan card whenever it has problems on the domestic front. And count on it to work every time. What else would explain how the BJP came back with such force for a second term? Even India’s main opposition Congress party was stunned by the extent of the victory – it was also shocked by the victory itself but the final numbers buried that story – and the only explanation was the Pulwama incident and the subsequent dogfight around the Line of Control (LoC) just months before general elections in India. The BJP was able to whip anti-Pakistan hysteria just in time for most Indians, the largest bulk amongst them orthodox Hindus, to feel that bringing Modi back to power presented the only hope of getting even with Pakistan. And now that crucial state elections are approaching, the Indian government has come out with its so called charge sheet against Pakistan for providing sanctuary to Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), whose chief Masood Azhar and six other “Pakistani nationals” are among 19 people New Delhi accuses of carrying out the February 2019 Pulwama attack, which killed 40 paramilitary troops. Pakistan, for its part, has very rightly rubbished the accusation and once again reminded the world that Islamabad warned of all this because we have seen this happen once too often. India is also trying to show some muscle with its purchase of sophisticated defence equipment from France and Israel. Yet, despite all that, every time it brings up the prospect of a clash with Pakistan it is reminded of its own two downed aircraft and captured pilot, who was promptly returned as a good will gesture. Sadly the international community, which together can put enough pressure on India to get it to the negotiating table, ignores this simmering conflict at its own peril. For if something even resembling a war does erupt between the two nuclear armed neighbours, its effects will reach all corners of the world in one way or the other. Best then to do something about it now, no matter how lucrative India’s big market and how luring the prospect of commerce with it even at the cost of ignoring blatant human rights violations in Occupied Kashmir. Pakistan has done its part by out maneuvering India when it came time to fight and warning the whole world time and again about all the atrocities in Kashmir. It has also warned everybody about a possible false flag operation by India, which it can then conveniently blame on Pakistan. Now the best it can do is make sure its defence forces are able to meet any sort of challenge. *