Was it war or conflict? A battle of semantics

Were we in a war with Pakistan? Depends on who you ask. The government's preferred term for the military exchanges with neighbour Pakistan that started May 7 is "limited conflict".

- Sunetra Choudhury

This choice of semantics has its advantages. Academician and editor, INDIA'S WORLD, a foreign affairs magazine, Happymon Jacob points out that when you call a conflict a war it becomes legal phraseology. International bodies get involved which has all kinds of bilateral and legal implications. "Calling it limited conflict makes it easier for the government to navigate things as they deem fit," says Jacob. According to him, another reason the war tag was avoided is that it would in some respects put the two countries at par, which India wanted to avoid at any cost.

Then there are the technicalities.

Neither the army, nor the navy, nor the Indian Air Force, crossed the international border or the Line of Control. The modern weaponry used meant that India hit targets deep inside Pakistan, such as Bahawalpur in Pakistan's Punjab province, without ships or planes crossing over or using troops on the ground.