Operation Sindoor and the subcontinent's addiction to fire

THEY called it Operation Sindoor. Named after the red powder worn in the hair parting of a married Hindu woman, it's a symbol of commitment. But in this case, the commitment wasn't to love. It was to fire; to spectacle; to the kind of political theatre where war isn't a final act – it's the intermission.

It began with a terror attack near Pahalgam in India-administered Kashmir on April 22. Another bombing. Another round of blood and fury. India responded. Pakistan responded to the response. And then, like a recurring cameo in a geopolitical drama that refuses to end, US President Donald Trump stepped in with a hastily stitched-up ceasefire, tossing cold water on what could have become something far more tragic, far more permanent.