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Do it yourself

Ho-hum.. here we go again.. as this new government ties itself into knots over how to deal with a menace called Pakistan.

It is a strange scenario, what has come about post-hijack. On the one hand, we have none less than the home minister of the Indian Union accusing Pakistan of complicity in a crisis that riven the populace straight down the middle. On the other hand, we have the wonderful sight of eleven losers doing what comes best to them at the Gabba against the nation. Double vision, anyone?

Since democracy is all about numbers, if one took a headcount, I am willing to wager my month's money on the fact that 95 pc of Indians believe that Pakistan has a hand -- if not a leg, heart, brain - in destabilising India, that it sends in jihad junkies into Kashmir just like it did in Punjab in the '80s, that it is behind the recent hijack of Flight 814, that it sent its armed forces into Kargil... And yet, we as a nation are unable to come to terms with the problem, unable to evolve a 'consensus' on what to do with Pakistan.

Thus it is that a nation of one billion keeps running to the West with entreaties to declare Pakistan a terrorist state. The point we refuse to see in our pig-headedness is, why would the West heed our plea when it is the Frankenstein that created the monster in the first place? Doing so would tantamount to admitting its role in the creation and export of Islamic terrorism which, in true Frankenstein style, is threatening to devour its creator.

Given the sophisticated technology at the disposal of the West, India would be - pardon the phrase - farting in a thunderstorm in trying to hand over 'clinching proof' of Pakistan's involvement in inimical activities. No amount of evidence unearthed by L K Advani's men can match that in the dossiers of Western capitals.

What India is trying to do is get the West fight its battle, when the proper course of action will be to take the first step in showing the world that it is serious. Why should India await the world's signal to call off all ties with Pakistan? What is it about our western neighbour that so paralyses our thinking, that so archives our emotions, that petrifies our actions? Will the skies fall on our heads if we do to Pakistan what we are in effect urging the world to do first?

For, apart from the economic blockade that will arise from America declaring Pakistan a terrorist state, it will also lead to the 'civilised West' calling off ties with Islamabad. The question is, do we follow a course set by the world, or do we march to our own beat?

Of course there will be economic repercussions to follow if we break off ties with Pakistan, but is that reason enough to hesitate? Surely, a nation that withstood the economic sanctions imposed by the West after the nuclear tests, can easily handle whatever economic fallout there maybe from a move taken in genuine national interest?

If it is not economics then it must be the Muslim angle that must be holding back the government, of whichever party it maybe. Which, if true, translates into official inertia for the sake of a handful of people - handful, compared to the national figure, let me clarify - who have relatives across the border.

If neither of the above reasons, then successive governments have been incapable of taking the right decision so that we, Indians, may enjoy Indo-Pak cricket matches, get a whiff of genuine Qawwals and other arcane arts that can only come from across the border - while terrorists and infiltrators backed by Pakistan can sneak into our country and wreak mayhem and havoc. After all, what is a little bomb blast here, a terrorist attack on a security camp there - when weighed against the beneficent effects of playing Shoaib Akthar on the national psyche...

This is where India has become a soft state. I can understand, even accept, releasing a few terrorists for the sake of 150-odd lives despite what other commentators may say on this and other sites. India had little choice in Kandahar; but it has enormous options before it in terms of follow-up, which it is unwilling to execute.

I am not saying that breaking ties with Pakistan is going to force Islamabad abandon its desperate ways, quite on the contrary in fact. But it will show the world - a world that is so far unimpressed with the seriousness of our intent - that India will go alone if it comes to the crunch, that it will not compromise on national security whatever be the price.

ALSO SEE:

The thin red line
The international loneliness of the Hindu
Pakistan, friend of enemy?
Saisuresh Sivaswamy