And Joshua Pollack fears in the future, there may not be any external diplomatic pressure to prevent similar disagreements escalating alarmingly. Tensions have been heightened in recent weeks after a terror attack by militants in the disputed Kashmir region left 44 Indian paramilitary police dead. In response, India - led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi - bombed a camp run by militant organisation Jaish-e-Mohammed, claiming 300 people had been killed as a result, although Islamabad denied the claims.
The next day, Pakistan - whose Prime Minister is former test cricketer Imran Khan - shot down two Indian jets, parading captured pilot Wing Commander Abhinandan Varthaman on television before handing him back to the Indian authorities “as a goodwill gesture”.
Mr Pollack, the editor of the Nonproliferation Review and a senior research associate with the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, told Express.co.uk: “The India-Pakistan situation is particularly troublesome because of the Kashmir dispute and the terrorist organisations that operate out of Pakistan.
“There has been an entire series of these crises going back to about 2001.
“When the terrorists launch attacks into India, the Indians have pretty few viable military options.
Indian PM Narendra Modi (Image: GETTY)
“Pakistan's major cities are mostly pretty close to the border, and the Pakistani military has no qualms about threatening a nuclear response to a cross-border incursion from India.
“Thus India's limited use of airpower against a terrorist target in this instance. Even this may have seemed pretty bold - they've avoided attacking targets outside of Kashmir for almost half a century, until now.”
Nevertheless,
