It goes without saying that before we articulate our position to the entire world one final time, we must put in some home-work, to ensure both diplomatic and security preparedness, to thwart any mischief from Pakistan and China and even from Pak agents inside the Valley. The separatists and the ISI funded traitors must be told that enough is enough and any talk of sedition inside J&K will invite stringent and legal action against them. Meanwhile a more than generous special developmental package for J&K should be allocated in the next budget, provided we can ensure that the augmented resources reach the deprived sections of society as rampant corruption in the local government hierarchy is a well accepted fact. Whether J&K or any other state requires the much debated Armed Forces Special Powers Act or not, can be discussed at length by all the stake holders and a pragmatic consensus arrived at, after an in-depth analysis, of the local security environment. We do not require to be advised by Pak funded separatists or their masters from across.
Let us not ever forget that J&K is not merely a symbol of Indian Secularism but its guarantee, and, Secularism is but a defining and a hallowed concept of Indian nationhood.
Finally, all shades of opinion in India from the government to the peaceniks, to the security establishment and analysts—- from the hawks to doves—must realize that despite all genuine peace overtures to Pakistan over the last many years, unfortunately, Pakistan refuses to budge from its chronic and myopic anti India obsessions. Even the current flavour of the season in Pakistan, presently Pak Army favourite, former Pakistani cricketer Imran Khan, now leader of the Tehrik-e-Insaf Party and a self-proclaimed future Pak Prime Minister, just the other day in Lahore, most provocatively exclaimed that “If the American Army could do nothing in Afghanistan what can the Indian Army do in Kashmir” and asked the Indian Army to vacate the Valley. This mischievous statement not only displays the mindset of a likely future Pak leader but is dangerous in its implications as it directly comments on J&K’s accession to India. We cannot delude ourselves by believing that Pak politicians have to speak the language of Pak Army generals just to exist in Pakistan. India must firmly and unequivocally tell the Pakistani establishment to desist from such provocative statements as it constitutes interference in India’s internal affairs.
The ‘bonhomie’ and pious statements which Indian Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and his Pak counterpart, Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Reza Gilani shared at the recently concluded SAAC Summit in Maldives will be put to its true test by Pakistani actions in the coming months and all South Asia watchers will eagerly await Pakistan’s reciprocity to India. This will, off course, be only possible provided the Pakistani establishment has the necessary will and importantly the mandate of its most powerful establishment—- the Pakistani Army-ISI combine ! Lets hope that the Pakistani Army sheds its myopic self-destructive anti India stances and puts an end to the’ breeding of snakes in its backyard hoping them to always bite its neighbours’— as US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, famously stated the last month while visiting Pakistan.
Its high time for a nation which seeks a seat, albeit deservingly, on the global high table, that vacillation in foreign policy and our customary over- polite diplomacy must give place to a clear exposition and a determined pursuit of the country’s interests. Let us not ever forget that J&K is not merely a symbol of Indian Secularism but its guarantee, and, Secularism is but a defining and a hallowed concept of Indian nationhood.
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