People in Gurgaon were wondering what they must do if a Pakistani missile reached them. We would have run, surely, to what end I don’t know. That moment when I ran, I would have been somewhat embarrassed. That Pakistan made me run. Normally, Pakistanis cannot make me do anything—not even emotionally prepare for a cricket match anymore. But in the end we didn’t have to worry. India and Pakistan agreed to a ceasefire, chiefly because of us — we the “innocent” civilians of the world.

A principle of modern war is that I should not be killed. As a civilian, I am ‘innocent.’ Only a war would call me that, though. It is somehow odd that the official position of Pakistan is that I am innocent. You, too, are probably innocent, and also everyone else in my residential colony. Including the old men who have always walked briskly, calling for a “strong hand.” We are the innocents. We have put some people in uniform, as though to clearly mark them out as ‘not innocent’—who can be targeted, for which we pay them rich compliments.

But how innocent are we?

What do the innocents do? They bay for justice, to satiate whom a nation often performs an act of war or even goes to war. The innocents elect leaders who have the nerve to do this, and punish those who waver in this. The innocents also say nasty things about the widow of a man who was killed by terrorists in Pahalgam for asking them not to harm Indian Muslims or Kashmiris for what the killers did. The innocents also riot. Sometimes, the innocents are at the very front of spreading propaganda against the enemy—but they do it ‘peacefully.’ Peaceful tasks could include non-violent activities that may lead to violence.

Pakistan, too, has its innocents, who donate to terror outfits and consider terrorists freedom fighters. Palestinian innocents voted the Hamas to power in Gaza; probably to build better water pipes. There is also a global network of monoculture innocents who go on protests in the West in support of Palestinians. They solve the mystery behind how Hamas was foolish enough to invade Israel on 7 October 2023, kill nearly 2,000 people and abduct hundreds. Hamas expected to commit a massacre and then hide behind innocents in Gaza, letting the monoculture network of innocents in America and Europe amplify news of every innocent killed by Israeli action.

Every nation has innocents. Most of the world is innocent. And nations try hard not to harm innocents in enemy territory.

When India struck Pakistan a few days ago, it stated that no civilians were killed—or at least targeted. The ministry of external affairs stated: “These actions were measured, non-escalatory, proportionate, and responsible. They focused on dismantling the terrorist infrastructure and disabling terrorists likely to be sent across to India.”

The very meaning of terrorism is that it kills innocents because it cannot fight an open war against armed forces. It has no moral standing today. Most nations that deploy terrorism do it in secrecy. Because morality is primarily about decorum, which no modern nation can afford to break.

The modern world is a very moral place. In another time, innocents on the losing side would be killed or enslaved by the winners. That is unacceptable today, but it still happens. There is no nation on earth—probably not even a tribe—whose official position is not moral. Even aggression has to be framed as something moral. And at the heart of all morality is the precious life of the ‘innocent’ civilian.

Yet, the innocents of the world are neither good nor bad. As in everything else about them, and in everything that they do, their goodness is unremarkable. If you consider the political noise made by innocents on social media, it would appear that many of them are, in fact, war-mongers.

After the Pahalgam massacre, the typical Indian politician often came across as more mature and humane than the average Indian on the social media. But those people are usually better than what their opinions may suggest. This is usually so of conservatives, while the opposite is often true of liberals. Also, media noise does not necessarily reflect the majority of people, who probably wish to be good in an ordinary way—even to Pakistani innocents.

This ordinary goodness is not entirely caused by practicality. It is in the nature of people not to wish death on other innocents. In some situations, this may be hard to accept. For instance, at the funeral of one of the Pakistanis killed in the Indian strikes, I do not think there would be many people who would defend my right to live, innocent though I am. But most of the time, innocents do not wish other innocents dead. There are stories about how soldiers on the battlefield were reluctant to kill; how in some wars, most soldiers did not fire at others, just pretended to do so.

I believe in the ordinary goodness of most people, but it is of no real use for peace. It takes just a handful of mad people—and evil is a form of articulate insanity—to end peace and nurture violence for years. That is because disorder is easier than order.

All of the universe tends towards disorder because there are many ways in which disarray can be achieved, but only a few ways in which something can be held together in a fine balance. Considering that, we have done a magnificent job.