Pakistan, May 8 -- When Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif addressed the nation last evening, he did not mince words. The speech was not business as usual. It was a wartime address. One, delivered with clarity, purpose, and the kind of urgency that history demands when a country finds itself staring down the barrel of escalation.

He called upon all political forces to come together not as allies of his government, but as defenders of the republic. "We may have our differences," he said, "but no difference is greater than Pakistan." That call must not go unanswered.

What preceded it was grave. Hours earlier, Indian fighter jets had violated Pakistan's sovereignty under the banner of "Operation Sindoor." Quite interestinly, by nightfall, India...