The beheading of the Indian army jawan by Pakistani military is not a new phenomenon as it has done similar ghastly things earlier during the Kargil war. It is due to the indoctrination of hatred towards India in the military and in the text books in Pakistan. India's response has been very pathetic The home minister says that CBMs will continue and there is no rethink on visa pact. The only way such atrocities could be prevented is by a' tit for tat' policy.
" Pakistan must act as a normal state", writes Ahmed Rashid, the well-known Pakistani journalist and the author of the book, Pakistan on the Brink, The future of America,Pakistan, and Afghanistan (2012), " rather than a paranoid, insecure, ISI-driven entity whose operational norms are to use extremists and diplomatic blackmail". And he adds, " To function as a normal state, Pakistanis desperately need a new narrative from their leaders, one does not perpetually blame the evergreen troika of "India,the United States, and Israel"for its own ills. He states that Pakistani military spurns any change in the strategic thinking as it undermines its own vast economic interests, its large share of the budget, and its overwhelming influence over the foreign policy. In addition to this,there is the feudal mind-set of the political elite. All these will lead Pakistan to an ideological dead end, he observes. Its geo-strategic location, its nuclear weapons, its large population, its terrorist camps and its enfeebled economy and polity makes it more vulnerable than Afghanistan. He says that the Pakistani military is supporting guerrilla war in Kashmir to tie down Indian army and Indian state at a low cost for itself. It has no vision for the progress and prosperity of its people.
The Indian politicians and the intellectual elite have failed to understand the mind of the Pakistani military and the Pakistani political elite. Its response for all provocations is feeble which emboldens it repeat its ghastly acts. Mikhail Gorbachev liberated Soviet Union with perestroika ( restructuring) and glasnost (freedom) but saved Russia. There is no such personality in Pakistan who can save the state from the illusions of parity with and hatred of India, and ensure prosperity for its people.
January 11,2012.
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