Pakistan has done precious little to calm the situation after the Uri tragedy. Instead, it is going on a limb to ratchet up tensions and provoke India. Islamabad is calling it a routine air defense exercise, but the "thunderous spectacle of Pakistani fighter jets touching down on a major highway on Wednesday and Thursday, with commercial flights suspended and traffic blocked for hours, has fueled public speculation that something much more ominous is afoot," reported The Washington Post on Thursday.

"The display of military readiness, which included a late-night jet flyover Thursday above this capital city (Islamabad), has come amid an unusually tense showdown with India," the report added.

The blatant muscle flexing with Pakistani Mirage and F-16 fighter jets, closure of airspace over parts of Pakistan, and cancellation of at least 10 domestic flights spooked small investors on Wednesday. However, safety assurances by the military calmed Pakistani investors and the Karachi benchmark-100 index bounced back to 0.91 percent on Thursday.

Pakistani officials have described the air defense exercise, code-named “High Mark” as routine. However, security officials speaking on conditions of anonymity told the US media that the exercises were more than routine and part of a strategy to foil any possible Indian attack.