Malik Khadim’s lips tremble, his voice chokes and his head dips as he raises a hand to his grief-stricken face. It’s a vain effort to stem the tears gushing down his gaunt and weatherbeaten cheeks.

India and Pakistan are scrambling resources both military and diplomatic to respond to a crisis triggered by a massacre in Indian-controlled Kashmir that has heightened fears of a conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals.