WHAT now after border villages have been evacuated and the Army put on alert? The assumption is that the Pakistan army has lost face and the Modi government has taken these preemptive measures in case it tries to avenge the surgical strikes. Now that it should be done with basking in the warmth of favourable public opinion, New Delhi will realise that an anxious standoff cannot continue for too long. Winter is setting in and the evacuated villagers from the borders of Punjab and J&K will be unwilling to endure hardship for an undefined goal. The state of general alert for the armed forces means its equipment is taking a beating just like it did during Operation Parakram.After getting stunned into issuing denials of a surgical strike, Pakistan appears to be moving on a game plan designed to get both sides to the negotiating table. Its top diplomat at the UN has petitioned its lame duck Secretary General for intervention. Pakistan’s Defence Minister has twice spoken of nuclear retaliation. This ploy too is meant to cool down India and draw world powers into convincing New Delhi to talk about talks. The Modi government would not be averse to this option. The strikes have fulfilled the Indian public’s sense of revenge. But the terrorist camps were temporary structures and if the Kashmir lockdown continues, Pakistani recruiters will have enough motivated recruits to staff them again.While hinting at its desire for negotiations Pakistan remains insouciant.  Earlier, Indian cross-border operations were conducted under the cloak of deniability. After India had levelled the score with a cross-border strike, Pakistan would be ready for talks. With India publicly owning up to the strikes for the first time, Islamabad is being forced to make belligerent noises to placate its domestic audience. Despite lashing out at each other, neither couple is willing to put the wedding band on the kitchen table because they know that war is not in their larger interest. Though both sides will act unwilling, opening up channels of communication may be the next best thing to a damaging stalemate.