The government directive to conduct national drills on Wednesday, May 7, may be part of the psywars currently being conducted by India and Pakistan, but it has spooked many Indians, one of who whatsapped this correspondent late on Monday evening to ask: "Will there be war?"
The government firman also revived memories of the hours before Indira Gandhi announced that India and Pakistan were at war on December 3, 1971 when one's parents hurriedly pasted dark brown paper over all the windows at our modest Bombay flat so that no light could peek outside and enable enemy aircraft to track its targets.
We also switched from tubelights to dull yellow bulbs during that 13-day war to mute any light visible from the air. In the event, no Pakistani aircraft breached the airspace over Bombay.
What route will Pakistani retaliation take should India undertake military action to punish the masterminds behind the horrific 22/4 terror attack in Pahalgam?
Pakistan's military establishment at GHQ Rawalpindi -- including its by-some-accounts intellectually challenged army chief -- have threatened reprisals should New Delhi initiate surgical or air strikes. Bluff or intent? we asked Rana Banerji, who made it his business to study the Pakistan army and government during his 28 years at the Research and Analysis Wing, India's external intelligence agency, and after retirement from RA&W.
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