As India and Pakistan Issue Veiled Nuclear Threats, New Ceasefire Urged to Defuse Kashmir Conflict

Tensions are escalating between the nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan. Pakistan claims it has shot down two Indian military jets and captured a pair of Indian jet pilots, and India claims it has foiled an attempt by Pakistan to bomb military installations inside India. This comes a day after India carried out airstrikes inside Pakistan for the first time since 1971. India claimed it was targeting a camp of the militant separatist group Jaish-e-Mohammed, which claimed responsibility for a recent attack in the Indian-administered region of Kashmir that killed more than 40 Indian soldiers. India accused Pakistan of being directly involved in plotting the bombing. Pakistan denied the claim. Meanwhile, there are reports that Pakistani and Indian ground forces have exchanged gunfire in more than a dozen locations. We speak with physicist, nuclear expert and disarmament activist Zia Mian. He is co-director of the Program on Science and Global Security at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University. He is the co-author of "Unmaking the Bomb: A Fissile Material Approach to Nuclear Disarmament and Nonproliferation."