Tuesday, January 06, 2009

The Pakistani Bluff

For once India is making all the right noises and putting serious diplomatic pressure on Pakistan for the disaster that happened in Mumbai on November 26, 2008. I have been a self proclaimed liberal in dealings with Pakistan, where I always thought we should first get our own house in order, i.e. get the intelligence network right, get the Indian polity to sing in unison and make pariahs out of people practicing minority appeasement to win power. Also, what is needed is to get greater transparency into financial flows from the country, greater global coordination to destroy the world wide terror network and relentless diplomatic measures to deal with the menace.

However, with the clear Pakistani linkages, with serious indications evidencing state involvement in the attack, its time for the kid gloves to come off while dealing with the Terrorist state of Pakistan. Yes, its time to pronounce our neighbors as a terrorist state and suspend all political, cultural and financial relationships with the Terrorist state.

We understand that they have a tacit support of the U.S and China, who look at Pakistan as a counter balance to keep in check the rise of India. But unfortunately for them India is a nation whose time has come and no one can change that. India should spend aggressively in arms race, thereby making beggars out of Pakistan and making them bankrupt. The clout of India’s power in the region is visible from what happened to PCB once India decided not to tour Pakistan. The Pakistan board is on the verge of bankruptcy, and with an impending ban on Pakistani players from participating in IPL and ICL, I will not be surprised if Pakistan ceases to be a major team in coming years without Indian support.

Same thing can be repeated in many facets, and their penchant to match India gun for gun, bullet for bullet can really beggar their economy into bankruptcy. An unstable Pakistan, though not an ideal scenario for India, looks like will be much better than what it is today. A conventional war, is not a desirable option, because the collateral damage their may be something we may not have bargained for. However, strategic attacks at terrorist camps or use of snipers to eliminate key state players who are hand in glove in such heinous attacks is a option worth giving a shot at.

Key actions to be taken:

  • suspend sporting, diplomatic and commercial ties with Pakistan
  • Strengthen the intelligence network
  • Create credible military defense and augment training and warfare
  • Pronounce Pakistan as what it is “The Terrorist State of Pakistan”
  • Use snipers and strategic warfare mechanism to eliminate undesired elements in Pakistan, be it Dawood, Masood Azhar or the ex-ISI Chiefs involved in such attacks
  • Use diplomatic pressure to even out against them, India is getting to a stage where economically and strategically it will be difficult for most countries to Ignore India
  • Devise suitable terror response mechanism, this will not be the last terror attack on our soil by any means
  • Eliminate insurgency in other parts of the country, be it Kashmir, Ulfa in the north east or the Naxalite movement in the country’s heartland. Only political will is required to negotiate with that. If Sri Lanka can inflict so much damage on LTTE, I think we are much more capable of addressing our own internal security concerns

Another thing which needs to be done is to progressively ban Madarsas in the country. Madarsas are becoming the hotbed of spreading communal hatred in the country and are also isolating the Indian Muslim from the mainstream education, being detrimental to the nation and even more detrimental to the Indian Muslims who are deprived of modern education and opportunities to grow and prosper in the mainstream.

Madarsas are encouraging ghettoization of population on communal lines. As a popular commercial for a telecom service provider goes, “barriers fall when we talk”. If Indian Muslims are brought into the mainstream, my view is their patriotism and their sense of belongingness to the country will become much more pronounced than there sense of belongingness to a skewed ghetto. Modern education will liberate them and allow them to participate equally in the growth and development of the nation.

Last but not the least, it is a shame the quality of politicians we have, we need to do something to get the quality of politicians in the country to improve. We need greater awareness, we need younger leaders, we need to get rid of the menace of reservations in all walks of life and make a society which cares for the down trodden, gives them support but promotes and encourages meritocracy. A sensitive but merit driven society is the only way to take the country forward.

We have suffered a lot due to incompetence of our leaders and need to correct that. Attacks after attacks on Indian soil, have drawn feeble response, no one bothered to put the house in order. Indian lives became cheap, we became a soft state and a soft target for anyone who wants to take his frustration on the world out through violent means. No more! No more! Never again!

We shall not allow incompetence to take lives of our citizens. We shall not allow the Terrorist State of Pakistan to succeed in their evil designs, we shall not allow anything to make Indian Muslims compromise on greater national interests by select Maulanas who live here but are essentially agents of the Terrorist State. We will endeavor to bring them into mainstream and give them modern education so that they also participate and also benefit from the rise of India. We shall encourage young people to join politics and make social pariahs out of people practicing appeasement politics.