| Editor’s Pick |
President Karzai has been making friendly overtures to Pakistan, calling it Afghanistan’s “twin brother”, but he does know, well enough, that amends are not possible and Pakistan has a different game plan in mind. With the deadline of 2014, when the bulk of the foreign troops will have left Afghanistan, approaching fast and Pakistan’s intentions being known, he has tried to latch on to the only country he could find willing to help him out. On India’s part, the contours of this alliance and their likely fallout on Pakistan have simply not been fully thought through.
Pakistan is quite unmindful of its disastrous policy of building the jihadi network and the inevitable fallout of this on itself.
Given the constraints of geography and India’s own limitations to go the whole hog with Kabul, the deal should have been purely trade-oriented. Peace in this region is in the best interests of all — Afghanistan, Pakistan and India. New Delhi can think of trans-border trade with Central Asian republics and revival of something akin to the old Silk Route only by fully involving Pakistan in this grandiose scheme. That is the reality India must come to terms with. On the other hand, China is well on its way to building trade corridors with Pakistan and the Middle East and, finally, a land bridge linking the Pacific coastline with the Atlantic.
Given the ground reality, this hopping across Pakistan and working out a strategic tie-up with Kabul is not without its own pitfalls. This alliance with Kabul will bring added pressures from China on our borders, and terrorist violence in Jammu and Kashmir may increase. Such are the dynamics of the geo-political realities of the region. Pakistan is quite unmindful of its disastrous policy of building the jihadi network and the inevitable fallout of this on itself.
When Maharaja Ranjit Singh was shown the map of India, he wanted to know what the area marked in red indicated. When he was told that it indicated the spread of the British, moving his hand on the rest of the map prophetically he said, “All of it will become red.” This was when his empire was at the very pinnacle of its glory. It would be no prophesy to predict that once the Americans leave Afghanistan, the Taliban, duly supported by Pakistan, will come back with a vengeance and India will be able to do little to thwart it.
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A good article by the General, as always. He is absolutely spot on with his analysis.
However, I only to wish to point out that the reference to Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the “map colored red” has not been historically validated. It was a rumour — likely spread by the British to consolidate their hold on India and Punjab, and convince the gullible and religious Punjabis that the arrival of the British was destined or pre-ordained, so as to gain greater acceptance of their rule in the Punjab.
Since then, the British severely manipulated the Punjab, even dabbling deeply in their religion, and giving the famous Sikh Regiment a battle song purportedly written by Guru Gobind Singh that historians now assert was never written by Guru Gobind Singh.