Pakistan stands now on the brink of being the next Afghanistan. The killing of Benazir Bhutto is now being seen as an opportunity by President Bush to include all of Pakistan in ‘covert operations’. Not just the Western Tribal areas. The CIA is already considering covert operations. The excuse will be that an ‘unstable nation that has nuclear capabilities, is under threat from Islamic fundamentalism’. It will take a lot of will and hard thinking from the Pakistani people to stop this and not allow their nation to become the next battle ground between terrorism and the US. And neither can India now stand by and watch. Nothing will be worse for us than an ‘Afghanistan or and Iraq like’ situation at our borders. It is time for us to change our strategy towards Pakistan ….
…. It is time for India to go out and actively extend our help to the people of Pakistan to move to a more stable democracy. It is time to forget the past and help Pakistan develop economically. For nothing that has happened in the past between our two countries will be as bad as what could happen if Pakistan becomes another Iraq.
President Bush’s advisor’s, in expanding their war in this part of the world are making it more and more difficult for the next President (and it seems that Obama will win) to extricate the US from this mess. Extending all across the Middle East right up to our borders. And a mess it will be :
A US controlled Pakistan lies on the borders of both China and India – who are threatening to undermine the US economic behemoth. Both the nations are vulnerable to fundamentalism – as it fairly easily crosses both borders. India especially. I cannot see China standing by and watching the US expanding it’s interests so close to it’s borders. (Just as I predicted months ago that Russia would not stand by the US putting their missiles in Poland).
A destabilized Pakistan threatens both China and India. And the President Bush’s advisor’s know that.
Shekhar
God damn!! We can let Bush stuff up more before he leaves!!
I think Bush might single handedly lead the world into a world war… or it may backfire and make the subcontinent unite to protect its sovereignty.
yes. if India extends the olive branch and pakistan takes it, and we join hands with china – as sridar Iyer suggest- S E asia will be a formidable power and uncle sam will think twice before messing around in the region. But will all the if’s happen?
the subcontinent is too fragmented for that to happen. ever.
Oh please don’t start that Nehru-ian “hum sab bhai-bhai hain” BS again. There is no place for emotion in foreign policy. We have to be smart about doing what is in our best interests.
i think that is what everyone is saying Sid, the smart thing right now is to concentrate on economic growth and not have to spend huge amounts of money defending our borders against fundamentalism flowing through our very porous borders. Much better to have a stable economy, committed to growth, that can also be a major market place for us, as well as a place to outsource some of our jobs. Also do not forget that our oil pipelines from the middle east run through Afghanistan or Pakistan.
shekhar
There are some wars that have to be faught – sitting on the fence or counting economic costs or talking philosopy to mask cowardice will not help.
Pakistan is a nation that has no right to exist in the first place. It will be eventually dissolved , we all know that. But , America is the chief mischief maker in the world – in every part of the world.
After sleeping with Musharraff , the dangerous , gun toting American slut is now in a handshake with India , but realises that inspite of itself , even if Pakistan would collapse , America will artificially sustain it – like it is doing now , providing arms , technology to Pakistan so as to control India.
China has played along as it wanted to bee the sole Asian representative at the high table of the world – but now realises that the chink-munk warrior bumbling is not going to be accepted in the rest of the world – inface Indians with their larger world view , stable democracy , universalism ( in Indic or Hindu Philosophies ) is more acceptable than a domineering china .
China and India see it and have now decided to work towards a prosperous Asian century – America would ofcourse love to see the spat between India and China – but dont be surprised if Islamic Pakistan , China and India’s neighbours along with India actually come together to forge an Asian Economic entity – for that Pakistan will have to dissolve – either way , Pakistan is in for a massive change in the years ahead.
Hey Shekhar,
We have to make sure that India has a world class defence against the incoming missiles and have a fearsome air force combined with our own ICBMs which cover every square centimeter of the Chinese Territory.
Chinese have kept us pinned down with a localised conflict with Pakistan and it is these Chinese who have armed Pakistan with nukes.
Here is what we do:
a) Work closely with the US and get included in their “Shield” and become a member of SDI ( Star War programme ). A NATO like status will be good as an attack on India will be considered as an attack on any of the countries in the western alliance.
b) Alter our nuclear doctrine and give up the clause of No-first-use. We should make it clear that any incoming nuke hitting any Indian territory from the State of Pakistan, will activate the new measures imbibed in our doctrine and that being that we will hit back at China and rain nukes on every piece of their land combined with our hit back at Pakistan wiping them out of this planet. It sounds tough as it is MAD ( Mutual Assured Destruction ) but this is the only way Chinese will take notice of us and look at the seriousness close to their own borders and will realise that any irresponsible actions from Pakistan will have them screwed too.
India – Pakistan are presently engaged in a Hot War and we need to convert this in to a Cold War as in between US and USSR which finally got dissolved. With the inclusion of China in this scenario we will enter another cold war era which might freeze our relations with China and Pakistan and this will be a perfect platform to talk sense. As otherwise in present scenarios between Pakistan and US we are having Kargils, our Parliament is being bombed, terrorists are hitting with impunity and we are only sabre rattling – nothing more.
c) Somehow upgrade our nuclear arsenal and introduce more battlefield nukes which could wipe out garrisons of invading armies should we ever have any invasions on our borders if ever any Armageddon takes place in the future.
d) We, Indians, are liked by the world that matters ( Western World ) and should not let that advantage slip away at any cost. We have communists in our country, who are kind of stumbling block in our progress – If we have to invoke McCarthyism, so be it . Get rid of this evil by routing it out and throw it beyond our eastern borders. We are a capitalist socialist economy and lets function within these parameters ( Like Germany ).
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