Let us aim for a durable India-Pakistan ceasefire

The cessation of armed hostilities has held patchily and remains fragile. Now India must leverage its economic heft for a global geopolitical bargain to enforce peace in South Asia

- 

Relationships can be intrinsically fragile, especially with neighbours who suffer from some inferiority complex. The ceasefire announced between India and Pakistan on Saturday was breached immediately, proving the brittle nature of ties between the two nations that have been divided by thick lines of blood in sand and snow. Pakistan's appetite for continuing violence and bloodshed seemed to have diminished over the past few years, only to resurface with the appointment of a new army chief whose words suggest he views strife with India as a religious battle. India's measured response to the Pahalgam carnage, which claimed 26 innocent lives, by targeting terror infrastructure across the Line of Control has rendered irrelevant some of the old red lines. It also shows New Delhi's decision to redefine South Asia's sophomoric geopolitical grammar by replacing passivity with decisive but limited action. As anticipated in war games, Pakistan predictably retaliated while stoking its anti-India rhetoric at home, plausibly to keep the army ch