Becoming hostile to another country is not the first step.

It is the last. Unfortunately, sometimes, the journey from any bilateral trajectory going from ‘strained’ to ‘sour’ and then ‘hostile’ is overlooked. Hence, Iran’s blatant aggression against the ‘brotherly’ country of Pakistan smacks of a well-thought-out plan as targeting an ‘Iranian terrorist group’ with missiles and drones is not possible without putting a proper strategy in place. That takes time. Pakistan is neither Israel nor Iraq or Syria. Equating Pakistan with these three states and that too by an apparently friendly Iran could not be conceived easily. The absence of any open, sudden and grave provocation or aggression from Pakistan points towards the presence of a deep-rooted toxic sequence of events that culminated in the use of brute force. Clearly, there is more to it than meets the eye.

The message is conveyed in the loudest and clearer manner possible. The fact that Iran did not deny violating Pakistan’s territorial integrity has saved us from the hassle of connecting the dots. Otherwise, there was a forest full of ‘miscreants’ who might have been considered for investigation. From India to Afghanistan to Israel to TTP, our intelligent minds would have been entangled in an unending puzzling predicament. On the other hand, focusing on who might be the ‘accomplices’ would be an exercise in futility. It hardly matters if the deplorable action was taken after consulting a few foes or any friend. Iran has admitted it attacked with missiles and drones itself. End of story. Why Iran resorted to brute force is more important than to search for the collaborators. Another disturbing fact. Ordinarily, even if Iran wanted to declare war........

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