Sunday, July 25, 2010

Its better to Jaw Jaw than to War War... Really?

India and Pakistan , neighbours by compulsion , have just concluded a round of talks . What were they talking about? Precisely that, the agenda of what they should be talking about. That talking to Pakistan is an exercise in futility should have been established by now. But when you have a leadership that publicly, states that talks is the only option, well talk is what you are bound to do, however futile it is.
The latest round of talks was 'derailed' due to the release of information by the Indian Home Secretary GK Pillai, which revealed that the ISI (Pakistan's Intelligence agency) was beyond the attack on Mumbai in 26/11. To most with half a brain , this should have been evident. Sure, uneducated kids can be taught to shoot a gun. But an k like the Mumbai one needs more than the ability to shoot a gun.
What stands out is to me is that the Indian establishment appears to be aware that the attack on Mumbai had the backing at the higher levels of he Pakistani establishment, much like Kargil.
If this is in fact the case, why exactly are we talking? There are only 2 possibilities. Either the people we are talking to encouraged the attack of 26/11 and would be more than willing for repeats or they are too weak to prevent attacks. In either case, it becomes the Indian Governments duty and responsibility to act to defend its citizens from future attacks emanating from Pakistan. This will possibly lead down a slippery slope to war. But what choice do you have as a nation? The very basic expectation of any nation state is to be able to defend its civilians is being called into question time and again. Time and again Pakistan has played the school bully and punched India in the nose.. Time and again India has backed away from a fight, paying heed to the possibility of a nuclear war. At the very least end this charade of talks. People point to the seemingly unending rivalry between Germany and France , which has now morphed into an inseparable union as a model for future Indo-Pak relations. But they forget the many horrible and crippling wars that preceded the current state of affairs. As things stand now the Republic of India cannot reconcile with what Pakistan stands for. So really is the Jaw Jaw really better?

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