Preamble

There is no better example of this than the Israel-Palestine conflict which has claimed so many lives over the years. Israel has always retaliated with force, and the country's response has been held up as an example for us several times.

While all the adrenaline generated by the bravado will make us feel good for a while, it is important to see what the policy followed for 50 years has finally yielded them. Has the Palestine movement been cowed down ? Have terrorist attacks on Israeli citizens ceased and Jewish interests become safe across the world ? Definitely not !!

It is painful to see the policy of hatred being peddled as something progressive in India. Look around at your workplace, or in colleges for specialized higher studies. How many Muslims can you see ? Please do not talk of merit, I have seen enough reserved category candidates drop out of my engineering college because they could not even handle the first year. What did they do to deserve a seat in the first place ?

We as a country have failed to provide a supportive environment to the community. Beyond nurturing vote banks, Indian politicians have done absolutely nothing for the minorities. The community as a whole is turning inwards and finding solace in religion because all better alternatives have to be fought for, guarded by all the self-styled patriots here.

It is plain hypocrisy to propogate any particular religion and pretend to be secular. How can a religion be secular ? If we prosecute our minorities because Hindus are prosecuted in Bangladesh, how are we different from that country ?

The Taliban tried to impose uniformity in their country by prosecuting their minorities. See where it got them. Agreed, Pakistan, Bangladesh et al are all to be condemned. I strongly believe India is much better than all those countries put together. But by doing the same things here, what do we prove? That their thinking and policies are better and we need to copy them ?

I really fail to understand what is being suggested by the likes of VHP, Shiv Sena and the rest of the monkey brigade. That we will be truly secular if we are 100 % Hindu ? Why then are there so many similarities between the dictates of the Taliban and those of the Shiv Sena ? Ban on mixing of sexes, wearing of western clothes, hatred for minorities etc. Only the names change, the policies seem to be exactly the same.

Whether we like it or not, ethnic cleansing under any guise is not possible in India. The sooner we learn to live together, the faster we will progress. I care two hoots what stood earlier on the site of Babri Masjid or the Qutub Minar hundreds of years ago. What we should be worried about is that thousands of our people died and property in crores was destroyed in independent India because some fools think that two wrongs can make a right.

I do believe my country has better and loftier reasons to exist than simply being anti-Pakistan or anti any other country.

Is it our own frustration that makes us scream for other's destruction while doing little to improve our own lot ?

It does look like my point is not getting across. The only importance of Pakistan post Taliban is the Kashmir issue. And we, by being so obsessed by that country are giving it a relevance in the world order that it simply does not deserve at this point. Is that country a match for us militarily or economically ? No !!

The US ambassador to India Mr. Robert D. Blackwill said in a recent interview that hyphenation (Indo-Pak being spoken of in the same breath) is more in the Indian mind than in US. He says it is difficult to have a conversation on Indo-US relations without being asked after a few minutes about Pakistan and its role in Kashmir.

Why should our most important domestic policy (the conviction to remain secular) be dictated by what goes in elsewhere in the world ? Israel is surrounded by hostile states and I admire the country for its past record in beating all its enemies down. But we are not in the same situation. India is bigger than all our neighbors (leaving out China of course) out together. Yet we are so insecure as to consider happenings in even Bangladesh as impacting our domestic situation.

As Mark Twain had said, "The duty of a soldier is not to die for his country, but to ensure that his enemies die for their country." ;-)

I would be ashamed to be called secular in the context in which the word is used in the Indian political arena, for then, I would be sharing this description with the likes of creeps from Samajwadi Party, RJD, Communists (I&M), Congress etc. These people have done much more harm to the cause of minorities than anyone else in the history of India.

From the overtures that US is making towards India, it does seem like our line of thought is being understood and respected now. The balancing act that Pakistan was doing in the War on Terror was of course unable to hide their complicity in the whole deal. So the best thing India can do now is just sit back and watch Mushy hang himself.

We have serious problems of our own to deal - Kashmir, North East, Naxals, general law and order, besides the sad state of our economy. The patience of the world is limited and as seen with Pakistan, whining and blaming others for your problems doesn't get you too far.

Though anybody sane enough would definitely be in favor of peace and in favor of talks in this direction, this should be no reason to jump the gun and rush into another trap laid for us by the General. See what Agra got us: we have effectively given away our right to PoK. General was received as a President and now even the rest of the world calls him Prez.

It is too early to say that "Pakistan has embarked on a historic journey. It is bravely confronting self-created demons." It does not take much to figure out that all this shift in direction is only due to arm twisting by US of A. Let them first change within, their hearts and minds are still with the Taliban.

And we know what the General wants to say when he meets us next. Give us Kashmir or else....
And we are kind of hearing the same thing over and over again. Let him prove he has something new to say if he wants to meet us.

I say we call Ms. Bhutto again and listen to the kinds of things we like to hear, even if that is also nothing new.

Well, I had a look at the Defence Journal, the official website of Pakistan's defence forces. I must say it makes amusing reading.

Some action at last on the political front in Kashmir I guess, with the elections coming up at a rather opportune moment a few months later. I hope we seize this opportunity to heal a bleeding wound that has cost our country so many lives. If we assuage the feeling of hurt of our own people (viz. the Kashmiris), it would perhaps give our neighbor a lesser of a role in the Valley.

Rather than reacting to every provocative statement that comes from across the border, we should revel in the new found acceptance and respect India is being given on the world stage. All the world's developed nations seem to have suddenly discovered that they have been missing out on a stable, secular, multi-ethnic democracy that has been exisiting peacefully. And our being a source for the in demand IT professionals doesn't hurt too.