Early on Wednesday, Indians and Pakistanis learnt that their forces had been involved in a dogfight over the Line of Control. Later in the day, Pakistan announced that it had taken into custody a pilot of the Indian Air Force.

This followed India’s “non-military pre-emptive” air strike on a Jaish-e-Mohammad training camp in the Balakot area of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province early on Tuesday morning. The Jaish had claimed responsibility for the February 14 attack in Kashmir’s Pulwama that killed 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel.

Amid the jingoism and cries for retaliation and war on social media, many people, not only from India and Pakistan, demanded that the two nuclear-armed should de-escalate the situation and sort out their differences. The hashtage #SayNoToWar began to trend around the world, as social media users emphasised the futility of war.

One Twitter user pointed out that even Taliban in Afghanistan was speaking of peace, as were long-time enemies US President Donald Trump and North Korea leader Kim Jong-un at a summit in Hanoi.

Others noted that war hurts children.