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A prankster put India and Pakistan on the brink of war. That this is possible demonstrates just how fragile that relationship is. That it didn’t escalate, though, tells us something important, too.
See my New Atlanticist essay, “Hoax Tests India-Pakistan Relationship” for more.
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Joyner-
Why do you implicitly credit the story as told by either the Pakistanis or the Indians? I’m not saying they’re definitely lying, but the circumstances raise the possibility. I find stunning the claim that the Pakistanis abandoned whatever procedures are in place to verify a caller’s identity – stunning to the point of implausibility. About 48 hours into the attacks, they decided the situation was so dangerous that they discarded their SOPs. Right. And their immediate response to this apparent catastrophic threat was not to initiate additional contacts with elements of the Indian government, but to involve the Americans.
The intent of Pakistan lying would be to engender fear of a nuclear attack in order to blunt India’s response to any connection it finds between the attackers and Pakistani intelligence.
It’s less likely, but still possible, that India is lying about not making the phone call. I tend to believe them more because I can’t come up with a motive for them to make threats and then deny it.
