As the war drags on to a slow and gory conclusion on the Himalayan heights, India has an unprecedented opportunity to seize the moral high ground and take the Kashmir problem right off the international agenda.

For the first time ever, there is universal understanding of India's position and praise for India's restraint in the face of grave provocation. The core facts are now broadly accepted. Sometime within the last six months to two years, the Pakistani military began preparations for launching armed incursions across the Line of Control in the disputed territory. What remains unclear is whether they did so as a rogue force in Pakistani politics, or with the approval of the government. Their motives are also open to speculation. Perhaps they feared that normalized relations would strip away their privileged status and dominance in the affairs of state. Perhaps they expected that a caretaker Indian government would not be able to coordinate a forceful response.

Perhaps they hoped to end up in a win-win situation: either succeeding in altering the LoC permanently to their strategic advantage by occupying the commanding heights and cutting off a major portion of Indian Kashmir in the northeast, or ensuring that the conflict becomes internationalized and India is forced to accept outside mediation.