It is time for the Indian government to take action. India cannot be seen as being led by indecisive leaders who’s thoughts are more on the coming elections rather than grappling with national security. We are sitting on the borders of a country who’s government is loosing control. Over its own armed forces, over the fundamentalist forces. Pakistan is in danger of being completely Talibanized. It was a process that started when the US government armed and trained the Taliban through the Pakistan Army and ISI to fight the Russians. Afghanistan was turned into a battle zone of the major powers and Pakistan too allowed itself to get caught into the game, hoping to gain a few brownie points and much aid for its armed forces. Well, the game has backfired and Pakistan itself is in danger of being turned into battle zone.
So what should the Indian government do ? Whatever it has to do, it must do swiftly, for time is not on our side. We cannot continue to be seen as a soft target, and our people cannot continue to sit back and await the next terror attack while the government looks at the options in light of the coming elections. If India needed to do surgical strikes, they should have happened already, sending a clear message to the fundamentalist forces that targeting India is not an option. It is now too late to do that.
More than that, no terrorist attack is possible without ground support within our own country. I am afraid this is where it gets really murky as money, vote getting etc gets in the way of a clear cut policy. I am amazed that Dawood Ibrahim walks freely after being implicated in the Bombay Blasts years ago, and even travels to Dubai for his birthday. I am convinced now that Dawood knows too much for some politicians in India to allow him to be repatriated and put in trial in India. Our politics is so corrupt.
But is War with Pakistan an option ? Consider this :
a. Who are we declaring war against ? The people of Pakistan, or the government of Pakistan, or the fundamentalist forces ? A general war is exactly what the Taliban wants. It desires a Pakistan weakened further by war, so it can take control. It can then rip up more rhetoric and recruit many many more terrorists to its cause
b. What are the ‘goal posts’ of the War ? How do you declare a war as won. What do we want by going to war ? I think the government of India must make a list of the leaders of the Lakshar -e Tayiba – and others like Dawood, to be handed over for trial in India for crimes against the indian people. But the Indian government has not made any such clear demand. It has not taken any affirmative action yet
c. A war like this must be won within a period of 3/4 days. Beyond that collatoral damage in the cost of civilian deaths on both sides is too high. Bombing of each other cities and even a nuclear conflict is a real threat in any war that becomes long and protracted.
So what are the options now ?
a. First the Indian government must make a list of people and operatives it believes to have organized the terror attacks on India, and ask Pakistan to hand them over.
b. We must put international pressure on Pakistan through countries like the US and China to hand these people over.
c. Ask the UN to step in and ensure that the terror camps are dismantled with in Pakistan. After all the UN has been sitting for 50 years on the borders of the two Kashmirs. Time for them to get more active.
If nothing works then Military action may be the only alternative. First we should try and put together an international force, and if that does not work, then India should go it alone. But Military action must be the last resort. I believe though that the Pakistan Government too would be thankful to be rid of the fundamentalist forces that are destroying the fabric of their own nation. It is just that they are unable to publicly state that view for the fear of the reprisals from fundamentalist forces within their armed forces.
It is difficult to judge who is in control right now in Pakistan,
Hello Mr. Kapoor.
I totally agree with this post.
What I (and a lot of people in India) feel is that pressurizing PAK internationally is an option.
1) but who will stop US, UK, Germany, CHINA from providing ARMs n BOMBs to PAK, which is given in the form of “money to help fight terrorism?”
2) what about taliban ? They are now with Pak!
3) why is America suddenly backing us? What can be their intentions behind that, if any…
4) Who will be on our side and who will be on Pak’s side in case the worst thing is to happen?
5) I read that a WAR can cost around 10000 Cr. Rupees! With already troubled economy and global slowdown, this is the last thing we can think of.
What are your views on that?
I understand you won’t comment on certain points over here (as some are beyond scope of your post here), but these are some of the thoughts that i believe are in the mind of every Indian…
Thanks and Regards.
No!
War with Pakistan is the last option. Today, one cannot afford war though no matter Pakistan is turning out to be rouge country.
Then what are the other options till the last option of war faces them?
I opine that Indian diplomats and senior politicians take the country and world leaders into confidence that
1. Pakistan is breeding ground of terrorism – within itself, its weakening economy and totally controlled by secret services and military but the funds that are given to Pakistan for development of economy are going indirectly to terrorists resulting in future destruction and if these funds are stopped from all quarters (US, UK, UN and world bank which recently gave billions) then it will curtail their rouge ambitions.
2. If they cannot handle terrorism, non-state actors within themselves then US / UK intelligence services must take the action.
3. Take them into confidence to start a marginal attack on POK
4. Bring Kasab interview out in open about his citizenship being Pakistani
5. Impose sanctions on Pakistan – to act
I think US intelligence is not stupid they all know it but due to shift in white house they cannot take pro-active decisions. Another thing is all the communications (sat-phones, cell records) are now being played in the secret services in US of A and they know the involvement of Pakistan. They know it and yes its on Indian intelligence, politicians to pursue US, UK, Russia and China to tell them plain and clear – if this is not done, tomorrow the respective countries will be target.
The matter stands now is – Pakistan denies Kasab, it denies everything that Indians put in paper or press or to world community…their strategy is to slow the proceedings, let it cool down and play that they themselves are victims of terrorists.
This would eventually result only in 3 things
1. The situation will die – time will be wasted and US wants its troops to destroy Taliban at the Aftan-Pakistan border and hence Pakistan will play that card (which it is playing) and India being ignored. This is the reason Pranab Mukherjee said we are alone and we have to fight our own battle.
2. Obama may take pro-active approach…increase troops at Afgan-Paki border and also put pressure on Pakistan taking into confidence all other countries to act against Pakistan and also ensuring the terrorists camp are destroyed at either side of Pakistan border…A tough task for him but seems a possiblity in long run.
3. The last option…indirect support of world countries…India taking on its own, hitting out at POK areas with strong air raids for over 4-5 days and giving them a message simple and clear – don’t mess with us! meanwhile US clears the cockroaches at Afgan-Pak border. A possibility I see in coming months.
Either of the aforesaid three…one thing stands clear…Pakistan has lost it credibility as a democratic nation and history does not support it. Feel pity for people of Pakistan…the inflation they face, the turbulent economy, the recession and no leadership…terrorism is not a cancer but HIV/AIDS eating them to slow death.
The world clearly understands its a breeding ground of terrorism. Right now the officers in Military think they run the country but barring few, they do not know how much destruction they themselves have bought to their motherland.
Would any tourist tour Pakistan? will sports be taken as passion without fear? will culture spread and will people be proud of their heritage? Will the great thinkers and rich people in Pakistan be safe and ambitious to live in that country and not flee to other country? Will politics there result in people being safe, secure and ensure economy grows? Will industrial development grow? Will Finances improve? Will women have freedom of speech? Absolutely “NO”
Pakistan has bought its own destruction…their leaders always wanted to compete with India but only in military power…in doing so they forgot that in their very own backyard despots, military hungry for power took over their right to live, took over supreme court, freedom of speech and power right under their own skin and before they could do anything…politics ensured that any politician who came to power filled their own pockets and when they were thrown out, other politicians did the same and when they were not doing anything, again a military general came to power…lust hungry for it – while all these was going on…Taliban shifted to Pakistan.
Pity, Pity, Pity…
I think after 20 years Pakistan would not have the same map it has now…a sad naked fact if they continue to do what they are doing for years…they are happily on their own destructive path. Pity
Actually nothing can save Pakistan…there is no one there who feels responsibility towards them. Pity that there is no head of state. The future is…India will still fight , grow, compete it has endured all these in last two decades and in one decade it has endured more…the middle-class base has been stronger then it was 20 years ago…but exactly is opposite happening in Pakistan…again Pity!
If any attack comes to any of US, UK or any other country fingers will point to Pakistan and if that is proved…more trouble for Pakistan…mind you not the people over there but all the elements I have been talking about and if god forbid any fatal attack is confirmed to the breeding ground, that’s it…the Piteous Pakistan will be shrinking in size as it is already been doing…
Pakistan should know that it is being eaten by its own secret service, military where some ex-servicemen are power hungry and selling secular secrets and aiding terrorists. This if not stopped will bring larger destruction to the people of Pakistan. I pity such nation who themselves call democracy but its exact opposite.
Pity!
War is not an option. Wars have not solved any problems. It is quite apparent after seeing the US’s misadventures in Iraq and Afganistan. In the wars that are fought it is only the common people who suffer and die. The common man in Pakistan is grappling with the same forces as the common man in India. Killing them will achieve no purpose.
I am in India these days and am sick of the media diatribe. When it comes to Pakistan why do we start behaving like kids?. Honestly the India-Pakistan story is no different from the story of the old time joint families that split over property issues and then they spent their entire life scoring brownie points over each other.
The US has not had a terror strike since 9/11 not because of it’s (mis)actions in Iraq and Afganistan. It is because strengthening internal security. That is the first thing we need to do.
As far as the internal support to terrorists is concerned – that is the bane of our existence since time immemorial. History says wars were lost not because of lack in substance but because of betrayal. These are the enemies we need to find and fight. We need to get our house in order.
And yes, international pressure and sanctions on Pakistan might help the cause. But remember at the end of the day, the Govt. in Pakistan can do very little.
I remember reading on rediff a story about how economic warfare could possibly be raged. There were some points that made a lot of sense.
War is not an option. That money should be used to make our borders impregnable, our intelligence ubiquitous and our anti-terrorism outfits well-coordinated, well-equipped and rapid-fire.
Dear Shekhar,
I spent the last couple of hours at the ISKCON Hare Krishna temple in Mumbai, a place of amazing peace so I am as far away from thinking about war as possible. Every city I go to I visit the Hare Krishna temple as it is one the few Indian organizations that has truly gone global.
Like you said whom are we fighting against – their people(who actualy like India a lot), their govt. which is barely taking baby steps to set some order or the fundamentalist forces. If it is the 3rd one then surgical strikes against POK are hardly going to do much as they are all over the country – they will dismantle their camps for a while and regroup after the strikes – they don’t need much to set up camp.
We were one country before 1947 so the real reason is go to the root of why so much differences have come about that we keep talking about taking extreme steps – sometimes relations improve and then something happens and we are back to talking about extreme steps. So in my opinion what we need is the international community including UN and all major countries to come together and bring Pakistan to the table – let Pak outline what steps it will take to dismantle terrorism on it’s soil. If they don’t take those steps there should be unilateral action against them with all the stakeholders involved. It should be treated like an international problem and not just one for India – an Indo-US-UK operation will be something that can send the best possible message.
If a consensus is formed in the international community against Pak we will be able to take the best possible action and India should do this fast else the matter will fade off and nothing will happen.
Best Regards,
Himanshu
IS war an option? I wish the answers were black and white and I wish our politicians or us people had clarity. We all understand the civilian destruction that ensues from such acts. And war with pakistan – will it solve the terror issue? Will tat guarantee no terror attack on us by their fundamentalists? Am not sure!:(
What must India do, strategically and procedurally, to ensure that we as a nation do not ever again endure a brutality like the terror attacks in Bombay encountered 3weeks ago?
To participate militarily in a big way we could fight alongside the international forces and take on the extremists in Afghanistan. Afghanistan is an important support base for the terrorists and it is in our interest to help sanitise this region and we should therefore be active participants, militarily too, out there. We already have many Afghan refugees and many of them could be inducted into the Afghan war alongside our own forces. Our participation in Afghanistan is entirely legal and would be welcomed too by the international community.
Most importantly, our active participation in the Afghan war would reduce the West’s dependence on Pakistan as an ally against terror and allow it then to act more strongly against Pakistan’s involvement with terrorists. Furthermore, our participation in the Afghan war would be extremely unpalatable to the Pakistan army & government and they would not then be able to blackmail the West by threatening to relocate their forces from the Afghan border to the the Indian border.
This shld pressurize the international community to declare Pakistan a terrorist State and to initiate economic and military sanctions against it
Well said Himanshu!
I just wish to add one more point: If Pakistan Govt agrees to take action but puts forth its fear that in the event it is afraid that it will be overthrown either directly by military or indirectly in elections in future the world community should gave an insurance that it will not be allowed to happen.
I think no Pakistani Government will dare to take action even if its main leader himself has suffered on the hands of the jehadists if no such insurance will come from some power that be.
Regards, Harb
Hi Dad and everybody,
vis a vis your pt.5, I would like to mention here Manmohan Singhs speech at AnantNaag about ten days ago: He said to Pakistan that lets improve relations so much that Borders loose their relevance( in a way also providing the inevitable solution and succour of Bangladesh formulation by Indira which is the basic Pakistani raw nerve) while also saying that they should not take our love for peace as cowardice.
His yesterdays comments”Nobody wants war” only reinforces his sagacity.Especially when everybody knows that the Obama team is already breathing down their neck for AlQaida and Taliban.Remember the wisdom of giving safe passage to a badly beaten opponent so that if pushed further against the wall he may not do the ultimate(Abdul Quadir and another Mushroom cloud “Bh… Ch…Marda Ki naa Karda” thing).
Hi justbee(lol) lets start crashing more often now.
Sir,
If we have been maintaining a huge army and updating our self defence skills and buying new equipments and warfare weapons year after year, it justfies to use them whenever it becomes unavoidable.
All consequences of war and cost are known to mankind while we prepare to accumulate our weapons and warfare.
As a matter of fact War with any country can and should always be an option to protect our sovereignity.
The only question is like you have discussed in detail is we should not be led into a proxy war of any kind.
Pakistan’s views cannot be considered as sensible and singular. They have yet to consolidate and single out of the taliban influence. Unless they prove their isolation their views need not be cosidered diplomatic at all.
They have gradually garbed themselves in a uniform which doesn’t belong to their own territory.
Vinod Agarwal – Recommends the carrot (USA) and stick approach.
Dear Shekhar
India is almost done with the three options that you have mentioned. Now, as you rightly said war is not an option however all these international pressure, UN etc is bogus. At the end of the day each nation will have to look after its own interests. It wont work in my opinion. Lets be realistic – I am afraid this is it, nothing is going to change Pakistan. They are a confused nation battered by fundamentalism, dictatorship and corrupt government in the past and at present. There is no voice of moderate there unlike India. Sorry for being pessimistic about this issue. On the contrary lets strenghten our internal mechanism, political system and let the Government provide good education, abolish corruption to start with. Take for example todays news that a local politician involved in PWDs Engineer’s death in UP. I feel sad about this, this politician should be working for people and not killing people.
Your opinion is welcome
Brijesh
What exactly have the people… who suggest that the military option is nessecary or possible… been smoking?
And how would anyone know that the purpose of the military action been met? Unless you were to conquer and dismantle pakistan’s control of its nuclear weapons would any war have a decisive end?
As nuclear states, our stand alone armies are at best detterents. For defence. Not offense, certainly not at this time.
This is a much bigger deal than Israel lobbing lethal potshots across the border into Lebanon.
This would have the makings of another World War.
I would further be shameless enough to add that in the case of a military conflict the same China that you wax so eloquent over will not hesitate to cut off India’s arm or head, in self interest. After all Pakistan is a bigger customer of all things Chinese. Supporting Pakistan in crisis, also suits China’s seesaw policy and ideology balancing act with its other great market… the US. India does not exactly have a big trade deficit with China and the loss of India’s friendship will not send a venal China crying in a corner. Buddhism and cultural ties do not hold much water for the very venal and business minded Chinese polity.
bhai prem, have you developed a sense of humor or just lolying:)
everyone has to go thru ones share of churn in life which makes him do many roles, sometimes even getting into the shells and holes, and evenso crawl like a caterpillar, then to fly like a butterfly or just bee around, to finaly just settle into one’s being, and then just be a part of the whole/flow or just be what one truly is destined/supposed to be!! and then even if beeing around is a part of it, so it be.
so, just seeping in the juices of life taking it from its one expression to the other, honey! with nowhere to go and still going!! thats the BEAUTY of IT.. shivamastu:)
Hi Justbe,
Absolute sense of humour Prabh.In fact that extra “e” just got typed by accident but made me laugh and so I went along with it knowing well that you would laugh it away with me.
I might as well be Shekhar’s subconscious/or conscious ‘Drunken Coackroach’ drooling over Shree Devi(which he thought had threatning eyes)-I dont see why even a coackroach would threaten Shree.
Anyhow on the contrary my kids are improving my sense of humour Prabh. No chik chik as we earlier used to talk about regarding children.
How are Sheetal and Family. mail me at prempurushottama@fastmail.fm sometime and lets make it happen to happen on its own(well put).
Hi Prem,
I wrote a bit longer response to your post 9 but it has not appeared here I dont know why. I shall try to recall in brief:
Yes, nothing like Manmohan Singh’s assertion of making the borders irrelevant, it could be the best long term goal. Moreover, Manmohan Singh will be the last person to want a war with anybody focussed as he is on making India an economic superpower. I also fully agree that Pakistan should not be pushed beyond a certain point and because of the same reasons you have explained otherwise the consequences will definitely be marda ki na karda…In fact a few days ago I was seriously afraid that the situation was being pushed towards that point by some shallow-thinking politicians.
Anyways, my own response was to the specific question “Is war an option” and obviously as an immediate solution to the problem of Mumbai-like terrorist attacks if the answer to the above question was to be in the negative. Incidently it would save India both from war and from marda ki na karda situation.
Absolutely right Dad,
Manmohan Singh’s wisdom alone wouldn’t be enough to bring out the best short term and long term results…Just like Krishna needed Balrama… or lets say
the Satchidanand Vishnu sits on the protective coils of Sheshnaag in Sanatan mythologyI.
I do agree with you that wisdom needs power and absolute wisdom(above good and bad) needs absolute power(beyond good and bad).Their are many examples- Rishi Vishwamitra needed Ram;Rishi Ashthavaakra needed Janak;Brahman Chanakya needed Chandragupta;Ram himself needed Lakhshmana and Hanuman….
I just wrote what I thought you had missed.
War is definately not the answer.
I remember seeing disney cartoon (Alladin serials), a man use to sell arms and ammunation to the king (Jasmin’s father) and to his neighbouring king. At time of war he would fill his pockets by providing arms and ammunation to both of them.
I think US is like that, first it provided all the arms and ammunation to Pakistan and now trying for nuclear deal with India.
I didnt get to see the famous BBC Serial ‘Yes Minister’ but I did get my hands to read the book. How desperately the US was trying to sell weapons to UK, to save its economy.
I am against the nuclear deal also. We want to show our strength to the world and within the country lakhs of people die of poverty. And the worst terror attack according to me is Hiroshima and Nagasaki during world war II
I do want the world to know that they can not take my country for granted, but by internally strengthening the country.
In the course of the massive terror attack, we are forgetting about various other internal weaknesses.
Christians have been attacked in our country, north Indians have been attacked in my city, and for what?
Why are we not working on that? I think we should start from there.
On afterthoughts my above comment could look as though war is inevitable as almost all those wisdoms and powers went to war. But to my own afterthought I would like to clarify that Absolute Wisdom and Absolute power do not need to fight to prove their absoluteness. On the contrary by absolutely allowing there to be no war,no loss of innocent lives do they give their proof.
And yes, War with Pakistan is not an option?
Maybe some top politico from India should take the risk of going to Islamabad(Like Vajpayee once did) and showing to the people that Pakistan”the Nation”- is not India’s enemy.
Dont these Americans and Brits keep shuttling here to New Dili and Islamabad.Are we two nations not mature enough that some third or fourth country has to come halfway accross the Earth for defacto arbitration of peace between us.
***
Anyways heres a funny story:
Their were two neighbours- one a slim trim vegetarian and the other a red meat eating robust non-vegitarian.(God made them so.)
Now the vegetarian neighbour was a peaceful intellectual with a large family who had many shops in the market and was very productive for the citys economy.He was in the good books of the Sherrif.But the non-veg guy was a day to day physical threat who had a regular after-dinner fight (maybe to digest that high protein diet)with his own family members giving many sleepless nights to the neighbouring veggie.
Now the earlier Sherrifs themselves chicken eating non-veggies had shown a lot of self-interest while arbitrating between quarreling neighbours and usually it was the Sherriff like the proverbial “Cats and the monkey’s justice”story who had the last laugh out of the citizens fueds.
In this Catch-22 what does the poor rich-veggie do?He simply prays to God (who had made him rich and intellectual and a veggie in the first place) to protect and show the light not only to him but his neighbour and the Sherriff too.
God inspires one of the red-meat eating non-veggie’s family members to strike one of the Sheriff’s family members in the market and steal away her purse unknowing of the consequences.
That purse had some of Sheriffs very important things and his own prestige was at stake.
Now Sheriff cannot lawfuly prove who has done this crime but just knows who it is.And also knows that both these neighbours also have some approach to the Governer(International Community) in case things get too out of hand.
Now what does the Sherrif do?
Slowly and steadily he influences the veggie neighbour to build a case agaist the other so that while arbitrating between the two he will get even himself with the red meat eating neighbour and may also get some rich gifts from the veggie.
Now in the meanwhile the Sherriff gets transferred(again an act of God).The new Sherriff has no special inclination towards anybody but is known to hear to all voices.We don’t know whether he will develop his own selfish interests or be as godly throughout his tenure as people generally say he is.
The complaint of the erstwhile Sherrif of the stealth has been registered so the new Sherrif will have to make investigations…
The story goes on… but God seems to have done so much for the veggie’s prayers already.
Thankyou
Hi Prem,
Thank you, but let us keep this blog a bit impersonal. Remember you wanted to call me Harb? This is the place.
Secondly, my tired and retired head cannot keep track of too much mythological names and stories. So let us keep our discussion limited to the characters and events which are present before us NOW.
Third, let us use absolutes sparingly. Absolutes of any kind are really beyond the pale of any meaningful talk. In fact where absolutes end the real, dynamic world of us normal people begins and when any aspect of it is again at the verge of reaching absoluteness it is already no more.
Fourth, let us not remind continuously that God made him so, God made this happen etc. As you yourself once said to your Mom very beautifully, “But that is a given na.”
Fifth, though this is really related to an other thread I may also mention it here. And I may also add that by addressing me as Dad you have given me the right as well:
A desiring-to-be-mentee does not talk like a mentor himself to the one he is requesting to be his mentor. He should know that he is groping to find the first rung of the ladder of which the later is near the last.
And he should also know that the later has reached there by fighting inch-by-inch all his life whereby he really found what he can do and cannot, should do and should not, what destiny is telling him and what not by constantly revising by hit and trail, and so does not need any advise now.
The real way of the mentee/mentor business is that the would-be-mentor sees some special talent in someone at his work and offers him to guide him. Should you think that this could not be possible at the place of your work, you should know that for one, your work can also be visible in your writings and for an other, that if there is no person at your place of work related to your specific interest at least God is there He is watching and who knows that He knows that you are in fact not made for the work you are presntly thinking upon but for some greater one of which only He Himself could be the mentor. And you can take me as an example for this. No earthly mentor could have given me the insight for my book.
Sorry if any of the above should hurt you.
I fully agree with what you suggest on the lines of what Bajpai said in the past but alas! I feel we have no statesmen now only politicians. Perhaps the problem is in the times now, perhaps our chakra (remember lol)wants a bit of hiljul to dust off the baby-bloomer generation and energize the next one.
wonderful heartful loving melodrama uncle harb, just loved every bit of it.
Justbe, thank you.
And I may add that though it will also be understandable and acceptable if any long-entrenched samaskaras should still compell you to call me uncle, I on my part would at least like to absolve you of calling me that, for me simple Harb would be OK. I know the new generation likes to be treated at par in such matters so we can at least experiment with this here. Face to face may still be difficult so we can carry on with that in that case.
Prem, of course the same goes for you that is, if you still wish to call me Dad here. But then dont mind if sometimes I get a bit carried away by that word and throw an advice here or two there, in which case though you should always know that at the bottom of this is always my desire to see your writing become soo effective that it gets the attention it really deserves if it get rid of some superfluities which though most beginners fall prey to.
I know because I was even ahead of you a few miles in this lol at your age.
#21 Just watchout buddy, Its not a film you are watching.
dear harb, i didn’t use my mind or any genx formula to address U, though the samskara might just have had a bit of role in it. as far as i can see its just the spontaneity of the inner expression. perhaps it would be the same even when we are face to face, though i don’t see myself as a well verbal communicator.
dear harp, actually it was/is almost like the way i watch a film. wonderful leela my dear:)
It is doubtful that Pakistan will ever stop attacking and dividing India. And especially now, after they have become terribly isolated as a result of their own karma and their beautiful taliban frankenstein. In the rest of the world, a clearly distinct perspective differentiates Indians from Pakistanis..no longer are they weighed in the same scale. As they say “dood ka dood, aur paani kaa paani”.
At one time, in America, it was difficult to be a black or a coloured person. Now..if your name is Mohammed or if you’re from Pakistan or some Islamic country, you have a very good chance of being interrogated by the FBI anytime. These fundamentalists are kept in check very well in the US and such countries now..exactly how it should be.
Going to war with Pakistan should be the last option. There are so many other things that can be done meanwhile..why not destroy all traces of organizations such as Huji, SIMI and this entire Dawood mafia with a fierce and ruthless resolution. Erase all their channels and webs inside India. Enforce an iron military grip on Kashmir, and eradicate separatists voices with propaganda and armed solutions. The morale of the separatists in Kashmir has to be terribly weakened, and demographics and industrialization/development of Kashmir has to be changed by sending large number of Indians from all over there to bring it back into Indian fold. There are so many internal things that can be done before getting into a useless war.
But either ways, we cannot expect anything from the likes of Manmohan Singh, Pranab Mukherjee, etc. I think the international community is worrying unnecessarily about any action from Indians because they do not realize how weak and useless the current Indian government is.
An India-Pakistan war is exactly what the Islamists in Pakistan( thats 90% of Pakistan) , their western abetters and handlers , and of course China would love to see.
Pakistan was carved out of India as an act of revenge by the British – how could they see a massive multi-cultural India prosper when they were losing their Empire ?
The Islamists were active right from Gandhiji’s days – and he created the first mistakes by supporting the Khilafat movement and condining the Mopplah rebellion when thousands of innocent Hindus were slaughteredin Kerala.
So , we now have Pakistan – a country created out of misguided sense of religious purity and superiority , a country that has no viability except by support from the western powers that donot want India to be a world leader.
This is Asia’s misfortune. But the day , India-Pakistan resolves into its natural state – United India, generations of Pakistanis will be brought up thinking they are the heirs to an Islamic caliphate of the past.
For now , economic and diplomatic squeeze on Pakistan must be sustained followed by surgicval strikes deep into Pakistan. Maybe send Indian Marine Commandoes into Karachi and drag the JEM and Lashkar chiefs out of their’ House arrest’ and try them in India.
India has to learn a lot from Israel about defense. You really cannot reason much with tribal jihadis..these people are operating from very low level chakra vibrations because of their low evolutionary states. For them development, education, harmony, etc. take a backseat in comparison to their dog-like territorial nature and ego attachments to some deluded sense of God that has to be enforced on everybody. And their high-meat diets are not in alignment with their high moral codes of abstinence and such..which leads to a rather aggressive emotional mindset.
These jihadis have to be proven that their beliefs are completely wrong and misguided for everyones good..go to the roots.
dear brahmastra,
i would like to get back to you on this.
War is not the answer for more reasons than one. A prolonged war inevitably damages the very foundation of a country and most often it is the civilian population which gets affected. In addition, it is unfair for all the soldiers going on war from both the countries who are laying down their lives for no fault of theirs. You may argue that its their job, but will you be ready to send your child or your loved one off to fight these wars? Most often you will say No. If you are talking ideologies, then I would advice you to watch the documentary ‘Fahrenheit 911’, you might also pause to think that universally, in general the army recruits come from lower income groups. This is just an example. But if war is not an option then what is? 1. External pressure is one. 2. If at all a war has to happen, it should be a focused war, aimed to destroy Taliban and Extremist hubs and should not be a war in general.
I think it was a good strategy of the present Govt to remember the Jallianwala bagh massacre 1919 thru ads in many national dailies(through Ministry of Tourism) and remembering Gandhi’s message of Nonviolence(through MIB).
We,the people really have a short memory.We should thank God we have a Manmohan Singh at the helm.
I think I agree with the idea of learning from Israel (not that I condone every action by Israel). What we should learn from them is about operating organizations like MOSAD. Covert action by Indian commandos was probably the best & the only peaceful solution to this trouble with Pakistan.
For those who noticed the ‘was’ in my last statement, it was intended. I honestly believe that India has already lost out on the juiciest opportunity to do it. I am surprised that India has no such covert organization in its defense strategy yet (or do they?)… but if they do… why have we not see any political assassinations. Not that I take any sadistic pleasure in it, but I surely would’ve loved to hear news like Maulana Masood Azhar or Dawood , etc being shot by some unknown sniper & that pak govt suspects Indian involvement in it. Such covert units can go deep into pak & even destroy LeT training camps (prob we should ask JP Dutta to direct such an operation)… Such a solution has the added advantage of zero collateral damage.
Dear SK,
War is never an option. It is often fought as necessity. And in necessity we should not make it an option but go out in full. I am not a war monger neither I am insensitive to the pain and follies of fighting a war. But do we need to postpone the inevitable. The terrorists are mushrooming and nurturing small kids as guinea pigs to go out, cry jehad and give up their lives for nothing. Will those kids ever understand sanity? Thousands are being enrolled on daily basis. We must stop this menace and be responsible for those children. We must not always try to find a soft way to deal with hard core terrorists.
All including me fear war. But sanity says that there cannot be better moment to invade Pakistan, target terrorists camps. Economy is already in recession. The biggies are with us. Let them get benefit but the most beneficial would be Pakistan and India.
Navpreet
Dear S. K.
If Indian forces had to attack they should have attacked POK and terrorist camps on the first day of Mumbai attack. Now its too late. Now the terrorists must have taken refuge in some safe place in Afghanistan and Pak Government or army must have put in more civilians in and around POK in order to show the world that India has targeted innocent civilians and would try to gather false islamic sympathy.
Indian sitting government or any alternative party can not get over election mentality for sure as many of them are not elected directly from amongst people.
It is up to us, comman rational Indians to show the world, politicians and terrorists and their indian sympathizers that we no longer shall live constantly in the state of fear and threats.
bye.
Israel, a country smaller than the size of New Jersey with a population of less than 1% of India and less than 20% of India’s GDP has demonstrated an act of courage which the Indian government should not only be ashamed but also should learn a lesson given their own state of coward and ball-less affairs. Since 1947, our yellow-bellied administration has done a phenomenal job of paving the submissive path with their tails between their legs for the future generations. It’s degrading to see that the third largest armed forces contingent in the world is dependent on venal politicians and political parties.
Recently released “Wednesday”, a bollywood title starring Nasserudin Shah is a sad but penetrating message which reflects the frustration of the society.
What would it take to shake up our brazen administration to call it a night and start doing their job.
What is stopping us from hunting down these terrorists camps which have sprouted all around our country?
Shekhar do you have a facebook site? as there is someone posing as you?
justbe,
? 😉
Munich movie of Speilberg comes to mind – is it another option India can look at – stealth attacks and organised crime by the government 🙂 Israel did that well. In fact, it could be done with International co-operation.
Is war an option with Pakistan?
A full scale war may be an option, but we should do everything else possible to make sure that Pakistan is held accountable to what happens in its territory. I don’t think we are quite doing that as yet! The first thing that we can do is to boycott all ties with Pakistan. Starting with:
(i) Cut all diplomatic ties with Pakistan, including bringing back of our envoy!
(ii) Cut all strategic ties with countries that have anything to do with Pakistan! Eg., All National defense and all other deals to have a caveat that the country we are dealing with shall not have any deals with Pakistan! Pakistan might follow suite. But India being much bigger market might not have much to worry about.
(iii) Cut all cricketing ties with Pakistan! Also make it clear that India will not play with any country that plays with Pakistan! BCCI is supposed to be running the world cricket with all the sponsorships and etc. Why not make use of this?!
There may be several other steps that we can and should take in order to avenge the killings of our people that fateful night!
I do not think that all the people in Pakistan may be responsible for the Mumbai attack, but their inability or unwillingness to deal with the people responsible will be held against them!
Is war with Pakistan an option?
A full scale war may NOT be an option, but we should do everything else possible to make sure that Pakistan is held accountable to what happens in its territory. I don’t think we are quite doing that as yet! The first thing that we can do is to boycott all ties with Pakistan. Starting with:
(i) Cut all diplomatic ties with Pakistan, including bringing back of our envoy!
(ii) Cut all strategic ties with countries that have anything to do with Pakistan! Eg., All National defense and all other deals to have a caveat that the country we are dealing with shall not have any deals with Pakistan! Pakistan might follow suite. But India being much bigger market might not have much to worry about.
(iii) Cut all cricketing ties with Pakistan! Also make it clear that India will not play with any country that plays with Pakistan! BCCI is supposed to be running the world cricket with all the sponsorships and etc. Why not make use of this?!
There may be several other steps that we can and should take in order to avenge the killings of our people that fateful night!
I do not think that all the people in Pakistan may be responsible for the Mumbai attack, but their inability or unwillingness to deal with the people responsible will be held against them!