Monday, September 18, 2006

A Hypothetical Question Or A Hypothetical Idiot?

The PM of India seemed to be suffering from Stockholm Syndrome when he was bowled over at Havana by his Pakistani counterpart's strong-willed gesture of fighting terrorism.

Speaking to reporters who accompanied him on his visit to Brazil and Cuba aboard Air-India One on Sunday night, Dr Singh said, "General Musharraf has assured me that Pakistan has no hand in perpetuating terrorist acts in India. He asked me not to go into the past, to forget whatever has happened in the past and to let us work together in the future." [source]

Is General's assurance is truer than your own intellegence reports ? Or did Mush waved his magic wand to sweep all the terrorist churning factories whose sole aim is to create furore in India. Forgetting the past will be easier but are we going to forget the lessons from the past as well.

Asked if future terrorist attacks on Indian soil would endanger the peace process, Dr Singh said, "Let us not deal with such hypothetical questions. I cannot say we have got security for our country forever. Life is much more complicated, it is not black and white. We have made an attempt to solve the problem, therefore let us not get into hypothetical questions." [source]

If the PM considers future terrorist attacks on Indian soil as something hypothetical then why was he alerting the nation about future possible attacks a couple of weeks back. Sirjee, you seem to catch up your predecessor Bajpeyi's forgetfulness but somehow this time it looks more of a concious effort rather than effect of old age and alcohol that had taken a toll on the most non-eligible batchelor of Indian politics. Everyone knows that the next attackers are lurking somewhere and only waiting for the right oppurtunity.Even the naivest of all wouldn't rule out that situation as hypothetical. But in naivity you seem to defeat us all.

On dismantling the terror structure in Pakistan, Dr Singh said, "We will discuss all the issues. Let us not jump the gun. Let this mechanism be in place. We will explore all the ways with which we can rid the subcontinent of the scourge of terrorism." [source]

As they say it was clear as mud.If you are not jumping the gun now after two simultaneous blasts at Mumbai and Malegaon when will you do that. What is the mechanism you are thinking about putting in place other than strongly asking our neighbours to hand over the wanted ones and shut down the terrorist churning factories. If you are not already in the process of exploring the ways then when are going to do that? Are we still waiting for the next blast ? Or will that be a hypothetical situation ?

"We had a very sincere, frank discussion on all issues," the prime minister said, speaking for the first time about his latest encounter with the Pakistani leader. "President Musharraf recalled what I had stated -- that the borders cannot be redrawn -- and his statement that they (Pakistan) cannot accept the Line of Control as a permanent solution. I believe that we should work in all sincerity out of the box, to deal with the situation.". [source]

Seemed to be too impressed that Gen. Mush has a memory of an elephant recalling what you stated last time to the exact words. Time for you to take some lessons at memory games from the General but then again you are also the one who urges us to forget the past and may be its lessons as well.

At the end of the day your speech conveyed nothing except weasel words just like the captain addressing the crew in a sinking boat. It's just the right kind of script for a leader who either has no clue about the depth of the situation or is simply trying to pass the buck. Only at these times we hear cliches like "Thinking out of the box" while the time-bombs inside the Pandora's box keeps on ticking.

4 comments:

Persona non gratis said...

seriously, we bend over so much to accomodate everyone, one would think we have no spine at all.

Biplab said...

It seems you are chewing too much of popular media. Do not loose your analytical skills buddy. India has two possibilities: either go hawkish or go slow and steadily and isolate Pakistani trouble makers. In case of the first option one should go for pre-emptive strike. Should start a diplomatic blockade. Go further block them economically. And what ever one can think of. I hope I have not to explain you the political fall out of that.

In the second option Indian politicians have to play a very complicated tight rope game. It includes continuous diplomatic attacks to increase international pressure on Pakistan on the agenda of terrorist camps, while keeping open the multilateral multi agenda talks. This gives us the opportunity to extract most from Pakistan. Kashmir and terrorism are not the only agenda which we have to settle with them. They have a shared border with us. One should always keep in mind the economic (do not forget oil pipelines) and cultural aspects too. Talks give us the opportunity to extract strategically important advantages and such multilateral multiagenda talks do dilute the topic of Kasmir dispute too. You must have noticed that now both the countries have agreed that there should be no re-draw of border (including LoC). This dilutes the agenda of Ajad kasmir. And that’s gain for India.

One should always remember that Pakistan is a failed democracy with a fractured society. It is a cry baby. But it is there just on that side of the border and that’s reality.

Man we dont have a black & White society and we do not have a easy solution too.

Bishu said...

Shreemoyee,it was really grandest show of spineless politics that the turbaned great one showed out there.Are we going to get used to the fact that terrorism is just another problem to our daily lives or do something about it.From the PM's speech I didn't see any positive in terms of doing anything.

Bishu said...

Biplab-da,this tight roped game that you mentioned aren't we playing it for a long long time,with Pakistan's ruling class (not the ordinary people) taking the mileage everytime.The biggest problem at hand is that people are dying in blast at regular intervals. And our leaders are still playing those silly silly games of futile talks.Only today Mush issued a statement saying they are not too willing to share the intellegence information with us.And as per the gas pipelines the moment Iyer was shown the doors due to US pressure it was gone from India's future prospective ventures.Also Musharaf didn't say Kashmir is off their agenda..he said he didn't see LoC as the final solution.My interpretation is that they want the whole cake not a slice.Whether Pakistan is a failed or secured democracy can be a part of Internation politcal study but as far as the issue in hand is concerned we should act fast with both of our western-eastern neighbours on closing these terrorist camps.And one last point today's paper carried a story saying US said to Pak "We will bomb you to stone age if you don't co-operate". US with its mighty weight can have the audacity to say that.Can't we Indians say similar things with whatever our weightage is in International politics. For example asking them to handover Dawood to us. But then again Indian politics works in strange ways. The hawala money the politicians thrive on is also used to fund the terrorists.So I guess the Congress will stick to discussion-discussion games without any outcome. The ordinary Indians would have to prepare for their own safety themselves.But someday when things go out of hand it will be theses ordinary people who will drag these spineless netas down to streets.That would certainly be a welcome change.