New Delhi, June 3 -- "India will identify, track and punish every terrorist and their backers. We will pursue them to the ends of the Earth," Prime Minister Narendra Modi declared on 24 April in Madhubani, Bihar-his first public response to the massacre of 26 Indians in Pahalgam two days earlier. Modi, known for speaking in Hindi even on global platforms, made a deliberate shift to English mid-speech, ensuring that the message carried beyond India's borders. The change in language reflected a change in posture-firm, direct, and unapologetic.

Three weeks later, the Government of Pakistan unwittingly confirmed just how far that message travelled-and how deeply it struck. A dossier published by Islamabad on 18 May, intended to build an inte...