Well, its over and done with. Salman Bashir came to India, met Nirupama Rao, addressed a press conference and went back. No joint statement but just polite handshakes, some smiles and thats it. Well, the meeting achieved what it was supposed to achieve, nothing. Nothing new came out of the meeting. No fresh ideas, no change from respective pre-stated positions, in fact nothing at all to write home about (OOOPS! Why the hell am I writing about it then?). What we heard were the same old statements emanating from both sides with India harping that terror must stop and Pakistan saying Kashmir first. To be candid it was expected. No body expects anything anymore to come out of Indo-Pak talks, especially this one coming as it did after Mumbai was attacked fourteen months ago. Nonetheless, aim achieved. Yes, aim achieved. More about this later in this post.

Even though the meeting did not go beyond expected lines the entire episode of these talks has brought to the fore some very clear facts once again. Once we had announced that we want to talk, albeit under American pressures, we expected Pakistani establishment to tone down their aggressive rhetoric which they very often use to gain political mileage both within and without Pakistan. But that did not happen. No sooner than we had announced our intentions to talk that we had their foreign minister Mahmoud Qureshi belittling us for having made this offer. He made it look like India had gone down on its knees in requesting them to talk to us. The Indian govt, on its part, dismissed this as one stupid act by someone who wants to score brownie points at home.

But then something else happened. On 04 Feb 10 the banned JuD, a front organization for LeT, held a meeting in Muzaffarabad in POK, with other terrorist organizations where they made statements like-ITS FAIR TO ATTACK PLACES LIKE PUNE, INDORE, KANPUR etc. Immediately after this on 06 Feb 10 they organized a rally in Lahore where they openly made statements like - ONE MUMBAI IS NOT ENOUGH. What is so completely baffling is how can the Pakistani establishment allow fundamentalists to openly preach about killing innocents in India, right under their very nose? And that too by a banned organization? Or may be it is not so baffling after all. May be these rallies show the true intent of Pakistani establishment. To kill Indian innocents so that Indian govt actually does go down on its knees. Its just that that they cannot say it themselves. And they don’t have to either. Fundamentalists are saying it on their behalf, and doing it too with their help, of course.

Then, Pune was indeed attacked and we are still counting the dead even today. Yes, it was not as severe as Mumbai but that was their aim. Not to bleed us profusely but to inflict another cut. Another stab wound after Mumbai 26/11 would’ve invited trouble, more than what they can handle. In India, there were some muted calls to call off the dialogue. But Manmohan did not. Even after three major provocations he held still. He showed the world (Read Americans) what they wanted to see. The meeting may not have achieved anything but it showed the world that India was more than ready to talk to Pakistan, if it stopped exporting terror. That achieved, its now time to take stock and move forward.

The very fact that despite our intention to normalize relations Pakistan still does not seem to be doing anything substantial against terrorists, is a sure sign for us to move on and be prepared to explore other options. Like I said in my post To talk or not to talk, there is no meeting ground for the two countries. We want them to stop exporting terror but they want to discuss Kashmir first or in other words they want Kashmir. So whats the point of meeting anyways? After having showed the world that we are indeed ready for dialogue it is now time for us to dig our heels in. No further talks till terror indeed stops. Yes, I did advocate reaching out to Pakistani citizens in my post Is it Pakistan vs Hindus?, but I guess it will have to wait till we get a clear indication from their govt about their intention to improve relations with us. Merely saying it is not enough.

The options that we have are many, besides launching an all out attack, the first one being scrapping of Indus Water Treaty. One more terrorist attack and we would indeed need to show our resolve. And scrapping of this treaty is one surefire way of telling them that we mean business. As it is they have said that they need more water from rivers which flow from India into their territory. If we really abrogate this treaty it would not be India but Pakistan who would be on its knees. And we would’ve achieved this without even firing a shot. Even sounding them on these lines about our intention to abrogate this Treaty in the event of another attack or even if they do not punish likes of Hafiz Saeed, Lakhvi and others who are freely roaming around preaching violence against Indian citizens, would serve as a clear indicator that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. There are other methods too but one step at a time is what we need to take.

Before I sign off I would like to point out what Salman Bashir said in the press conference when he was asked about those anti India rallies being held by a banned organization- I’m not qualified to answer that question. What a stupid joke it was! Pakistan had sent an unqualified person to India for talks. But that raises another question- Who the hell in Pakistan is qualified enough to talk on behalf of the entire Pakistani establishment? If the answer to that question is General Kiyani, should we indeed be talking to him instead of these politicians and bureaucrats who in any case are just stooges? Or some of his corps commanders? Or some Brigadier? Or a Colonel even? Crazy!!

Related Post

To talk or not to talk

The good, bad and ugly

Is it Pakistan vs Hindus?

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Posted on February 27th, 2010 India calling • Tags: attack, Hafiz Saeed, JuD, Manmohan, options, talks, Terror, terrorist. • RSS 2.0 feed • Leave a response, or trackback