As a patriotic Indian, my first reaction to the beheading of an Indian soldier by the Pakistanis was to shout on top of my voice for a tit for tat. I was simmering with rage at the barbaric act of the Pakistani soldiers. I grew angrier when Pakistan authorities took to a complete denial mode, repeating ad nauseam that no such incident had taken place. The military denied. The civilian government of Pakistan denied. I was wondering what this pack of liars meant. Did they take Indians to be foolish? Did they take Indians to be cowardly? Did they take India to be week?

I was very happy to see our Generals mince no words to convey to Pakistan what the latter will have to face in case it continued with its “provocation” of India. Happily, our government also left nothing to be deciphered by their Pakistani counterparts when they expressed themselves in unequivocal terms that Pakistan must punish the perpetrators of the heinous crime first and then there could be a dialogue, notwithstanding what the glamorous Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s Foreign Minister said in New York about Pakistan being ready to have a dialogue with India.

I will hope that the government of Pakistan will give ample proof of its honesty (hitherto absent) to admit that it was an unfortunate incident and that it will punish the perpetrators of the ignominious crime.

Let the Pakistan government come forward with an honest statement that such incidents will not recur. That may assuage the ruffled feathers of more than a “billion people”, Ms. Khar. But then, not by words alone.