INSTEAD of "drawing on a reservoir of trust with the Indians" that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice found while she was lately in New Delhi and to dissuade them from launching an aggression against Pakistan, the US is reportedly advising Islamabad not to retaliate in case it became the target of airstrikes. US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Adm Mike Mullen, who was in Islamabad, discussed the matter with COAS Gen Ashfaq Kayani, who appropriately told him that Islamabad would not hesitate to respond with its full might. At the same time, pressure to act decisively continues to mount on Pakistan, with 'friendly' advice coming from Washington and war cries from across the border. Although ISPR chief Maj-Gen Athar Abbas has denied having noticed any unusual military manoeuvres on the Indian side of Rajasthan, which was reported by a section of the Indian press, the government circles at New Delhi are sparing no effort to create a scare about an impending war. External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee kept up the war hysteria on Monday when he addressed 120 ambassadors and high commissioners of his country at New Delhi and warned that India was not "closing any options" since the international community, in his view, had not done enough. He expected the US to do more to have the 'infrastructure of terrorism in Pakistan' dismantled. Reminiscent of the Bush harangue about WMD in the hands of President Saddam Hussein as a grave "threat to all that human civilisation had achieved", Mr Mukherjee felt that this infrastructure was the "greatest terrorist danger to peace and security of the entire civilised world". In this uproar, the major casualty is basic commonsense, and the lasting effect of the wounds that a military adventure could inflict are lost sight of. A photostatic copy of a letter from Ajmal Kasab, whom the Indians maintain is the only surviving accused of the Mumbai attacks, was supposed to have been delivered to the Pakistani diplomatic mission at New Delhi on Monday and that most probably is the only evidence that India has so far furnished. Kasab, over whose Pakistani nationality there is still a question mark, wrote this letter in police custody, and that should reveal its true character. The way out of the crisis is for the Indians to provide credible proof of the involvement of elements from Pakistan, and for the government here to firmly act in accordance with the results of the investigation. 'Non-state actors', if any had been responsible for the bloodshed, should be severely dealt with. They have already done enough harm, not only to Indo-Pakistan ties, but also within the country itself.