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In Lahore the idea of an impending war looms large, even among sober people who view it with trepidation rather than longing. The novelist Mohsin Hamid tells me this is because of proximity to the border. For a Lahori, a dip in India-Pakistan relations can mean more men in army fatigues on the streets. If you’'re in Delhi or Mumbai life goes on as usual. Geopolitics does not intersect with daily life in quite the same way.

Some of Pakistan'’s beleaguered liberals - a brave but dwindling species - look upon India'’s turn toward hardline Hindu nationalism more with sorrow than anger. They feel robbed of their best argument - that for all its flaws India showed that civil liberties and democratic norms could thrive even on the subcontinent. Under Modi, Indian visas have all but dried up for Pakistanis, even for known peaceniks who have visited India many times. In the past, the Pakistani army tried to discourage people from visiting “"enemy territory"”. Now the Indian government does their job for them.

But it'’s not all just regret and longing for gentler times. There’'s schadenfreude too. The idea that the likes of the venomous Yogi Adityanath represent the true face of India is common in Pakistan. As the argument goes, Indian secularism was always a charade. The only difference is that the Modi government doesn’t bother to dress up reality. This may strike an Indian as an absurd distortion of the truth, but in Pakistan it’s widely believed.

The Narendra Modi government prides itself on restoring hard-bitten realism to Indian foreign policy - no more empty posturing of the Nehruvian variety. Judged by this yardstick. New Delhi’'s Pakistan policy is a disaster. It appears to be based on a combination of hubris and hatred that are the opposite of realism.

On television, Indians are fed a diet of jingoism that is detached from reality. For instance, while Pakistan’'s global influence may have declined precipitously - in large measure because of its sclerotic economy - the idea that India can isolate a nuclear-armed nation with more than 200-million people is preposterous. As things stand, Pakistan enjoys a strong relationship with China, has largely repaired its once strained relations with America, and is open to overtures from Russia.

Perhaps one day the politicians who run India and the generals who run Pakistan will feel secure enough to allow Indians and Pakistanis to visit each other freely and experience each other'’s countries for themselves. Until such contact becomes commonplace, the odds of South Asia becoming more like Southeast Asia - united by economics rather than divided by politics - remain vanishingly slim.

Why is the idea of war looming large in Lahore?

A) Because it is close to border

B) Because Modi recently threatened Pakistan

C) Because of surgical strike

D) None of the above