New Delhi, June 12 -- A month after the most significant India-Pakistan crisis in this century, which once was threatening to spiral out of control, there is a ceasefire that has held even while both countries have just completed a round of public diplomacy exercise to shape global opinion in favour of their rival narratives.

Both countries are projecting the four-day hostilities as a military triumph - India thinks that Pakistan has been taught a lesson it won't forget, destroying not just targeted "terror camps" but also strategic airbases; Pakistan thinks that it has levelled India in conventional warfare, downing some of their expensive fighter jets and forcing India to negotiate a ceasefire under American pressure.

A realistic asse...