Patriots and Traitors !

The infamous "Tebbit test" was supposed to separate wheat from the chaff! It is an observational test where your loyalty to your country is measured by whether you support the home team or the visiting team in a cricket match. Fairly upright and honest British citizens of South Asian origin fail this test almost universally.  There is no such concept as the Tebbit test in North America; however there is a vague concept of " Being American", and "Canadian Values".  It is hard to define what these concepts actually mean but whatever their meaning , citizens of Asian descent and specially from the Indian subcontinent find it hard to measure up to those standards. Critics will immediately point out how they insist on dressing in a Salwar Kurta right in middle of New York city and how a lady dressed in a western style skirt will feel totally out of place in a mall in Brampton, Ontario. There are similar concerns about food habits ( smelly, spicy....)  ; their insistence on watching Bollywood flicks ( silly song and dance) and speaking Punjabi, Hindi , Urdu, Gujarati.... etc. etc.

Other than making childish jokes about miserly corner shop Patel and big Pakistani families collecting welfare; generally these traits are well tolerated by the society. Certainly at an official level US is a melting pot ( although all that's melting is their economy)  and Canada is  officially a multicultural society. It is helped in part by the fact that Neither the US nor Canada have any worth while Cricket team and  South Asian countries hardly  count in  Ice Hockey or Basketball. So no clashes occur to test loyalty there. People can support who ever ,when ever and nobody will question their allegiances!

Most of the Pakistani's have retained their Pakistani passports even as they eagerly count the days when they become eligible to apply for the US/ Canadian ones. No one delays applying for it even for a day. Indian's can not retain their Indian passports, so as soon as they acquire the US/ Canadians ones; they  move heaven and earth to apply for an Overseas Citizen of India  card. Yet the respective US and the Canadian governments do not suspect their loyalties or hold back any  rights of the citizenship. Bravo! This kind of trust in their fellow citizens automatically generates loyalty. Why it is important is because these very same people who fail the Tebbit test happily; who stick their neck out for their respective lands of origin get treated with disdain by those very dispositions as a matter of course and with complete disinterest on their lucky day. All one has to do is to walk into any mission of their land of origin and the complete weight of an inefficient bureaucracy gets thrown in their face. Trust, helpfulness, clarity of rules and regulations , human rights, equality , respect for an individual and empowerment are not the words that can easily come to mind.

Actually it is no different from what any other citizen of these countries experiences every day of their life in their home countries . There they have to fight  to be treated with dignity or to be dealt with according to the rule of law and trusted as an equal citizen of the land. Sadly it does not happen very often. There they have a ruler and then they are the ruled . Although people constantly change roles from ruled to ruler depending on  situation to situation. A  taxi driver will think nothing of fudging the meter  and grossly over charging the rider. Yet the same Taxi driver will get fleeced on the next intersection by the traffic constable , who has a quota of tickets to fill for his boss. The boss who has to supply a decent efficiency figure howsoever  fictional  it maybe , to his own boss. The taxi rider on the other hand will consider it normal to pay a bribe to the local lineman if that means he can cheat on his electricity bill. The lineman will  share this bribe with his  engineer who in turn gives up a portion for the executive engineer; who has to arrange for a hefty sum to pay off his boss or he will get transferred to boondocks.  Everyone is engaged in usurping everyone's rights. In this situation whoever carries a bigger stick  prevails. Truth , fairness , rule of law and decency becomes a constant casualty. They cheat each other , they cheat their society , they cheat their families and they cheat their country . Incessantly. If this is not treason what is?

This is how regular traitors are made out of regular patriots . Ironically western system on the other hand takes a " Tebbit traitor" and creates a patriot out of him by simply providing clear laws and equal treatment. I am reminded of all this by the recent act of the Pakistan government where they slyly sentenced Dr. Shakil Afridi  to 33 years in prison for assisting CIA in its search for Osama bin Laden in Pakistan. The good Doctor made an error of judgement but should he not  have received a fair trial instead of a Kangaroo court where he could not even receive legal assistance ?  The question should also be asked when Scores of Pakistani generals helped CIA capture several other Terrorist leaders in Pakistan ,what crime did Dr. Afridi commit ? Afia Siddiqui,  a pakistani national  was captured and handed over to US without a trial  by the same authorities. Why is that not an act of treason ? How did Osama find safety 200 yards from the top Military college of pakistan? Who helped him for years and years? Why is that not treason? And when you are screaming from the rooftops that you want to capture Osama ; here is a good citizen who thought he will help.   Now that he has succeeded; why should he not be awarded? After all he helped your ally take down your enemy. Why does this not call for a"Nishan  e Pakistan"? Or was Osama your ally and Obama your enemy while you professed the opposite; confusing everyone.


Well the reasons are not  very difficult to fathom. As usual the rules are  not made clear on purpose. The governments say one thing and mean quite another. This allows them to interpret them in any which way they please. Terrorists are not terrorists if they can be used by them but people are not to be kept in loop about this dangerous policy. On top everyone will not be treated equally. Army is the sacred cow and people are so expendable!  With the result a doctor who until a fortnight ago was the epitome of a patriot  valiantly fighting disease and taking care of his people's health, has today turned into a Traitor deserving a life sentence.  It does not matter that bigger and worse traitors than him are roaming large  in every neighborhood. 

Cartoon Notwork !

 

When I was young we did not own a TV. I had no complaints though. It was really not a big issue for me. Primarily there was not a fat lot program wise  on it around  those days . Anyway we were also lucky to have richer next door neighbours who actually owned one. They also owned a  big heart and followed an open doors policy , specially for neighbourhood kids. What that meant was anyone who wanted to was welcome to their living room from 6 pm to 8 pm on weekdays to watch TV and a little longer on Sunday evenings for the weekly movie. Seriously! They would  expect every kid to be there if not their parents as well.  Although I was tempted everyday since all my friends would be there ; I went only rarely. Maybe I was shy and timid ;maybe I wanted to be in my parents good books or whatever but I would wait for the man of the house to knock at our door and invite me whenever something good was on. My bad luck was that I was more interested in watching news which came on exactly at 8 pm. Sadly the TV owners had no interest in it , neither had the rest of the sizable audience. So by consensus they switched  the set off promptly as the clock struck 8 . Everyone left for their homes and a waiting dinner.  I had to as well and I never got to watch  more than a minute of the news bulletin . But that's another story.

Sunday had a morning session too since the sole station aired programming for children.  They once in a while showed  cartoon movies. Now that was something I did  not want to miss. I would secretly hope for that knock on the door or even a call over the side wall. I ran to it as soon as It did. I am part of the generation that was reared on TV except that I was reared on cartoons and comics. TV played only a minor role. Due partly to the journalistic nature of my father's job ; I had comparatively extensive access to comics and cartoons. The organization he worked with published most of the better known ones. We got lots of magazines in the house too and the  first thing we went for was the cartoon strip. I grew up with "Dabooji". My childhood heroes were Phantom, Mandrake and Lothar. They still are. The girl of my dreams looked like Diana Palmer;  Phantom's girl friend. One who worked in UN's new york office. If you are young enough not to know who these characters are please go online. Some of the lasting values  I imbibed were from those comics. Some of my understanding of the ways of the world came from them as well. Even my understanding of as complex an issue as race relations got their idea seed from Phantom Comics. Of course there were all those other heroes from DC comics  stable and fabulous Walt Disney characters. And who can forget the jungle book  which has spawned a whole industry. Even today I watch it on DVD with my children.

Like every other kid I too had an older cousin .He subscribed to and collected Phantom series in those days. Every copy he owned was kept neat and clean in perfect chronological order in a glass door bookcase. To his chagrin however whenever I visited their house which was every school break,  too many times for his comfort ; I would take those comics out to read. Yeah, yeah ! behind his back! The matters would not  rest there. Afterwards I would re shelve them hurriedly, haphazardly and not even in the correct order. This would never fail to make him red hot angry.  Only my beloved aunt , bless her great noble soul would stand firmly between me and murder. Backing me against her own son too! I do not  fully understand exactly how or why it happens but  people cared passionately about comics and cartoons then as much as they  love them today.

Love them did I say? No , correct it . I mean hate it well and truly . Now they are afraid of cartoons and are sometimes seriously offended by them. No benevolent aunt stands a chance of coming between them and actual murder. As we saw about those Jyllands posten cartoons. We may dismiss those  violent objections as something originating from a medieval ,totalitarian  and extremist mentality but  not so fast though.  What would you say to the  recent  parliament pandemonium , in India of all places , over some cartoons ! Really ! So many parliamentarians of all shades of political opinion found a cartoon first published over sixty years ago ;  yes that is sixty; so objectionable that it was ordered to be expunged. Delete it they thundered.  No child should see it;  specially young adults in grade 11 and 12 have to be saved from it.  The so called democrats from the world's largest democracy hate and fear  today what was originally published in a national daily roughly sixty years ago without any hue and cry. Even the subjects of the cartoon were alive then!! And they were very powerful people too. One a prime minister and other a jurist responsible for crafting a constitution.  Those worthies took the cartoon as it should be taken. In a lighter vein! Today their petty minded followers  find it objectionable, insulting and every other bad word in the book. This comes right after a chief minister who came to power in an eastern state representing "grassroots society" ,jailed a professor because he had the temerity to circulate a cartoon that she did not like. 

How did we arrive at this bad place in these intervening sixty years? Where laughing is a crime; and you can get jailed or even get killed if you laughed at the wrong joke!  What kind of times are we living in when a cartoon puts a scowl on our face more often than a smile. Why are cartoons not working as intended ? Ask yourself this while I search on the internet for more......cartoons of course!

Dirty Pictures!

 Some years back a VHS cassette player was a rare thing. A video camera was rarer. Not many people had them. I remember we would rent a player and a color TV together with a couple  of Bollywood hits . Then the whole family would sit up with eyes glued to the screen all night in a "moivethon" and watch one movie after another. All of them  had to be returned to the local video shop next morning.  You had to keep your fingers crossed as sometimes the electric power failed . Actually power failed a lot of times but the video shop guy also knew about it and he would let us keep the equipment for  an extra couple of hours next day till we finished the videos.

This flexibility was only for the regular Indian family drama stuff. English movies were rented under stricter regulations. You rented it and you ran the risks. Power or no power you had to return them on time or you paid for another day. Off course they had the reputation of being more open and explicit and we watched them only with our buddies not with our parents.  It was an era of strict censorship. There were no foreign TV channels and import of video material could be controlled to a large extent. Officially there was no X rated stuff available but trusted regulars could rent those adult movies which the Video shop guy would not even admit to possessing to us youngsters. In fact we could get  seriously told off if we asked about  them. This individual practically controlled what we could view; for how long and at what price!

Times have changed and bulky VHS equipment is no more. Slicker CD and DVD has replaced them. Camera's have become digital, smarter, smaller  and very common. It is amazing how capable even tiny little camera's in cellphones have become.  To his utter dismay Abhishek Manu SInghvi found this recently. His driver's cellphone reportedly left  in his court chambers on recording mode shot a 14 minute video that can only be described  under court  orders as "forged, concocted, morphed and fabricated"; "of no public interest", and  " allegedly pertaining to Singhvi and a noted woman lawyer of the Delhi High Court." Singhvi was so moved by the "fake" video that he could not allow anyone to see it.  So being the lawyer he is; he immediately moved the court that put a gag order on describing the contents, publishing it in anyway or broadcasting it on TV.

One down side of getting older is that you tend to live more and more in the past.  Sadly for him this is not 1975 but 2012. No one can control  the flow of information completely. Not even totalitarian regimes like communist China have managed to stem it.  Surprisingly he forgot  about the existence of another  technical advance that is very common today- the all pervasive internet. This video has got uploaded on You tube and  then has a dedicated Facebook page . Several other bit torrent links that various individuals have made available online; ensure that the video can be seen by anyone who wants to. All one has to do is type 'Singhvi video' on Google search bar and punch 'enter.'  Just like that! Even the word on the street is that it is not "fake"; or "morphed". Anyway this homemade dirty picture has put paid to Singhvi's immediate political career as the governments official spokesperson and  this is likely to dog him forever. Just goes to prove that If you are stupid enough to indulge in intimate office romance , do not be a ridiculous idiot to record it. Secondly if you employ a driver , treat him like a human being . And if at all you are on a terribly weak wicket and guilty as sin; you will have to cut a deal to survive. Do it soon enough, man! A lawyer should  know this much!


Speaking of weak wickets I do not understand who has advised Sachin  to accept Congress nomination to  the upper house even while he is still an active  member of team India. A recent joke surmises it all:  So Sachin visits Sonia and Sonia says," Sachin , congratulations on completing a century of centuries". "Thanks Madam"' says Sachin; "and  may I congratulate you on completing a century of scams'!!!! Alas It is a joke only and Sachin never said it. In cricketing term he has  moved and committed to the shot even before the ball has left the bowlers hand. His head is not still and he has taken his eyes off the ball.  Very 'unsachin' like and   all bad news !

 

Friendly fire !

English is a little funny language. Fire can not be friendly, yet there is this expression that denotes somebody has goofed up big time. Latore Massimiliano and Salvatore Girone are two trigger happy idiots who fired upon sleeping fishermen mistaking them for pirates. Italian Navy must be providing very good weapons training because their marines managed to murder two innocents. Sadly the same can not said about their training program that deals with developing critical thinking process under stressful conditions as would be found in the field. Or  developing deduction abilities that would enable these marines to use intelligence in differentiating between fishermen and pirates. Or maybe these two specimens were the worst of the lot ; fit for only guard duty. Maybe they were drunk, overworked; half asleep; their girl friends broke off on twitter ........whatever!

One can find many reasons for their actions , but the fact is that they  murdered civilians without reason ; without provocation and acted with unreasonable force and firepower just on the basis of doubts. Reason enough for summary dismissal from a supposedly elite force after an instant court martial . Even if they had not succeeded in committing murder. But they did and  now that they have been apprehended by  police, they will  have to face trial. Why is that so hard to digest? Unfortunately no one acted honorably after the incident, starting from the marines themselves . Their captain tried to flee the scene, then obstructed the law from boarding the  ship for a long time and may have interfered with forensic evidence and murder weapons. I do not understand why he has not been charged as an accessory to murder.?


These are individuals and individuals are frail , selfish and suffer from weaknesses. Institutions , authorities and governments can not hide behind such fralities. Italian authorities , government and the their embassy began by casting doubts about the incident; then moved to create confusion about the location of the incident and then talked about jurisdiction. Their personnel murdered Indian civilians in Indian waters and were apprehended by the Indian law. That makes it Indian Jurisdiction. Period! The truth is that Italians are suffering from seriously misplaced superiority complex and their demands that  India let these murderers go is  ridiculously naive if not overbearingly arrogant. Every thing however points to a serious case of colonial hangover. Sooner they wake up ,sooner they would stop making a fool of themselves.


They have tried to bribe by offering to pay "blood money' ; without realizing that India is not Pakistan. They have involved the church , which beat a hasty retreat  after sensing strong resistance by the people.  And they have involved the European union as they continue to issue  threats after threats at various levels. I do not think any Indian government will be suicidal enough to cut an unlawful deal with the Italians. It would create a big stink in itself and then there is the Sonia factor. Manmohan Singh's government would not want to be seen breaking Indian laws to favour foreign powers. Specially Italians. Hopefully Italian government would reach that conclusion themselves and participate in facilitating a legal conclusion to this affair; that would be fair to victims.  If Italian marines are members of a proud and professional unit; they must be proud, ethical  and professional enough to own up and face consequences like a marine. They should receive a fair trial in an open court and get all possible legal help. However  they must answer for man slaughter and will have to serve time. Afterwards If the Italian armed forces do not wish to take these murderers to task for doing a sloppy and inefficient  job as a marine, It would be  their business. As of now it is the business of the Indian courts.

Golden Bird

 "Golden Bird" ,20cmX 30 cm , Acrylic on Canvas.2005-2006 Painting by Ashutosh Kaul

How would you react if the home minister announced that Mohammed Ajmal Amir kasab , the notorious terrorist can not be prosecuted?  Why ? because he shares his name with the prophet of Islam and his prosecution is blasphemous. It will hurt the  religious feelings of a group of people ! No he can not say that ! Did you say , I am on weed and suffering from hallucinations? Wait a moment.  What if we take a stroll in Mumbai's Kamathipura one evening. It does not have to be  evening either, even  early afternoon is fine ; but anyway. This is the traditional red light area of the city. Let us ask all the commercial sex workers plying the trade; their names and ask the same question of their pimps ,aunties and madams. What do  you bet that not only will you find the names of most of prophet Muhammad's sixteen wives  , you'll also find individuals with his and most of his companion's names too ? In fact do yourself a favour ,don't bet or  you'll lose. Just because you'll find  it to be true. Today, it is said that there are so many brothels in the area, that there is no space for the sex workers to sit in. They hang around in the streets, solicit customers and then rent an available bed by the minute.  Just the number of registered muslim voters in these 14 lanes is 15000.  Many more are not even listed.

Would you give credence to anyone who'll declare these woman to be pious and most exalted and their pimps as God's chosen role models for the society because they share such names? Obviously not! You'd have to be a complete lunatic to relate these  real individuals with the original historical figures. Imagine the absurdity of protesting about fictional characters in a book with similar  names .

One would imagine that injustice of this situation in Kamathipura will infuriate people. This travesty will offend them no end. They will feel insulted that articles of their faith and symbols of their belief are being disrespected on a daily basis.  Only it does not happen ! There is no fatwa forthcoming. No one declares that rivers of blood will flow if a single customer sets foot in those lanes. No element of the establishment secretly warns people not to visit  kamathipura since a contract is out on their head.  No policeman throws the book of laws at the organizers of this fest. From morning till late night everyday everything that is inviolable in islamic tradition is rendered asunder with impunity.

To show their  religiosity, piety , faith in rule of law and secularism all they can find is a work of fiction to object to. Those who are not bothered to lift an eyebrow against naked reality, choose to be so offended by a fictional story that they will kill or get killed! Satanic Verses is a book for God's sake written by a human being. A book is readable or it is  not readable. You like it or you dislike it. You agree with it or you disagree with it. It is just a book. You'll fete the writer or you ignore him. You ignore him and you disagree with him but you can not threaten violence just because you do not like the story. If you are not offended because a real prostitute is forced to work right under your nose with a name like Ayesha ; what logic do you have to get offended by a fictitious  character in a mediocre novel that is named Ayesha or whatever?

Satanic Verses is that golden bird that everyone  plucks when they feel like it.  It suited Western sensibility of the time so it got awarded Booker. It then provided a perfect stick for ayatollahs to beat the west with and showcase their adherence to faith.For years this book was the war theater between west  and Iran. And so on and on.  Deoband madrassah has found it to be a convenient tool to raise heat and generate some buzz that'll allow it to get a higher price for muslim votes.  The book  is again being bashed to provide a platform that will  provide the gathering point for Muslim votes in the local elections in India. Sadly no one is  mindful of what this kind of appeasement politics and supping with rabid elements is doing to the polity.  Government is least bothered in fact they have an active role in fanning the flames.

Chairman of United Jihad Council and supreme commander of a terrorist  organization Hizbul-Mujahideen, Syed Salahuddin is a known murderer and  terrorist actively engaged in armed violent action against the Indian state . He today addressed the press in India by telephone on communication links provided ,maintained  and controlled the Government of India http://www.greaterkashmir.com/news/2012/Jan/25/salahuddin-hails-separatists-for-raising-day-to-day-issues-58.asp 

However Salman Rushdie a known author with a family home in Solan; Who is not engaged in any activity against India; is not only stopped from  visiting India by official threats, deceit and lies ; he is denied the  use of a communication link to address a group of other writers from abroad .  All this to emotionally blackmail Muslim voters  in UP to vote en bloc for a particular disposition. It is  that kind of a republic day .

Lost & Found !

Losing totally sucks! Or does it ? No one likes to lose but inevitably from time to time one has  to lose in order to understand what winning means. Health benefits of losing weight are obvious to everyone.  You are really winning while losing those pounds. Of course if you are losing weight without any serious effort on your part , you better see a doctor.  Now we know that at certain times in our lives we are absolutely keen to lose. Like lose our heart or even virginity.  Ask  a teen if you do not remember. We think we'll win. It is another matter that it does not pan out exactly as advertised. Former event  remains a lifelong loss, mostly and the later event proves such a damp squib that one wonders what all that buzz was about.

We like to be in control .Losing it  is not considered good. Like having one too many and loosing control of the car with your kids strapped in the back seat. That's is a bad  loss; well actually it is criminal. But anyone who has gone through a creative process will tell you that letting things be and loosening control will often lead you to those areas of creativity you had not gone before. Gautama Buddha compared our situation to a little rider (the conscious mind) sitting atop a mighty elephant (the unconscious mind); a rider can coax and cajole, but if the elephant decides  to go in a different direction, you can be sure that is where one is going.

If you stick to your original out line, you will miss the dramatic opportunities that emerge as the story unfolds. If you continue to always attempt  a realistic portrait of your subject you'll never recognize the vibrant areas of colour ; interesting forms and  the dynamic interplay of light that is performing like a magic trick right in front of you. Losing control is good for creativity.

 

Homo Sapiens ; that's us human beings share about 99% of our genome with chimpanzees. Comparative studies have shown that humans have lost  about 500 pieces of DNA that chimps have and we do not. A certain keratin gene that they have and we have lost along the evolutionary road makes them far more hairier than most of us. Humans are rare amongst mammals in that the male penis is not spiked. Barbs, or penile spines, are short spikes made of the above mentioned keratin. They point back towards the body of the male so that after copulation any semen from a previous mate is scraped out of the female’s vagina ! Can't be a lot of fun.  We certainly are not complaining about this loss!

The ventral thalamus  region of the brain is useful in relaying sensory information to the cerebral cortex. It is also involved in consciousness and the regulation of sleep patterns. In chimpanzees the number of cells populating the thalamus is kept in check by a gene called GADD45G . The effectiveness of GADD45G is increased by a DNA element that we have lost therefore we make far less of this protein than chimpanzees. Making our  ventral thalamus  regions  larger. Allowing us  to  process and relay more complex information to the cerebral cortex. This is the part of the brain that is crucial for language, memory, and perception. We would most likely  still be hanging from the trees but for losing that part of the DNA.

Now that the Indian cricket team is  progressing  very well towards a comprehensive loss in Australia; I am of a mind to welcome this development.  Significant benefits of this loss are dramatically expanded by coming as it is ; immediately after a similar loss in England. Gods must be  very kind ! What a lucky break that summer Olympics  in London are just on the horizon ! This loss hopefully will change that part of our mental DNA that thinks Cricket is  India's religion and Sachin is our God ! Maybe as part of the evolutionary process this loss will make those regions of our brain larger that can process the fact that Sania Nehwal; Gagan Narang , Viswanathan Anand and several others are "Gods" as well. Maybe we will start recognizing the fact that we have simply the worst medal wins to population ratio in the entire world. Even Tiny Tim Taiwan had a medal more than "superpower" India in  the Beijing Olympics. It is hoping for too much but it may invigorate the part of  our brain that stores the information  that Field Hockey is our " National Sport".

Three cheers for the two losses ! They are for the best.  Hope they continue losing  in the same vein and eventually we will become good enough to win.

Great margin for error but no room for doubt!

A couple of months ago as US made the commando raid that eventually netted bin laden , I was very sure that the event will make   Pakistan's rulers and the people both sit up and take notice.  This was based on my discussions with my Pakistani friends.  Some how I was  convinced  that such broad minded, educated and balanced group of people will definitely guide their nation towards a course correction.  Now it looks like I certainly keep   wrong company! Such people do not matter in Pakistan.

 Immediately after that event repeated doses of an extremely shrill  rhetoric was deployed from the TV studios which  guided public discourse   towards  illegality of  the American action and towards casting doubts over Osama's presence  in Pakistan itself. There being some merit in both arguments; still one could be excused to think that people who have the power  to change and who are pulling  all the strings in Pakistan might have realized that they have finally been found out !  Whatever one may say for public consumption, in private  even a half wit would have tried to go straight in order to avoid being punished. In normal course albeit.  But that is forgetting it is Pakistan we are talking about.

Army is the real ruler of  Pakistan and that old joke about it being the only army that has a country does not feel like a joke any more. Are they idiots ? Are they reckless ? Are they both? The short answer is no ! They are actually pretty smart  people. Although it does not take a lot but anyone who can continue to pull wool over willing American eyes for so  long and get paid by them to do  it as a bonus , has to be sharp. Lot of commentators discuss this aspect  but most of them  focus on what;  not on why?

 

It is kind of easy to say Pakistan is paranoid about India and is trying to avoid getting caught in a pincer from both east and west.  The scenario is pretty much possible and their fears are not completely unfounded. This is one of the key reasons for their strategic misadventures. However  all  concerns are about the methods they have convinced themselves will yield the desired result. Comparatively speaking India is already caught in a pincer ; between a very hostile Pakistan and a super power adversary, China. Why are India's policies looked upon differently by the world than Pakistan's? They themselves are asking this question but unfortunately do not find the answer to their liking. 

Even now the policy makers are not willing to take on board the fact that their stealth is exposed. More than anyone else Pakistan should realize that  similar to themselves, America is more of a corporation that has got a nation. US inc. will not let go of Afghanistan like they did twenty years ago. They have too much invested in it now. Taliban and ISI proxies will have a tough time repeating their old success. That ,if it happens would actually be catastrophic for Pakistan;   sinking them far deeper in trouble.  In such a situation the corporation will wrest control by force and Pakistan will be right in the middle of that maelstrom.  And I do not see any appreciation of the fact this is not just a bipolar world any more. There are several other forces in the picture and they are not going to be  pushovers  either. Just banking on nuclear blackmail to get your way through is fraught with huge dangers ; not only to the nuclear deterrent but to the entire nation itself. One can sense Pakistani army taking over direct control of day to day policies and messing with the civilian oversight again. Specially the way Husain  Haqqani has been eased out of Washington D.C.. At the same time  Pakistan's other ambassadors  are being chopped and changed in droves as we speak.  And the way zardari has suddenly developed heart trouble and fled the country ostensibly for treatment  gives  a lot of weight to the theory that Pakistan army  has staged a soft coup while keeping a  civilian facade.

Without taking anything away from the 26 odd  servicemen who got killed in the recent Nato attack, one must ask why Pakistan has not shown such a strong reaction when several times more civilians were the victims ? The real truth may never be known but the Nato story that those gunships fired in support of their ground troops who were coming under fire from or close to Pakistan army posts , is very plausible. Specially to an Indian ear .  Providing covering fire to retreating or infiltrating Islamic terrorist  bands is an old and well worn trick that Pakistani army posts have been using  in Kashmir sector for ever and ever. It comes as no surprise that they were using it in the west too.


On the other hand their contention that NATO attacked these post without  a good reason may also have a grain of  truth in it. However if that was the case ,Pakistan's reactions are bewildering to say the least! If this was a warning shot across their bows by NATO; why  have they created such intense war hysteria  among their populace ? What is it they are guilty of?  What are they hiding from their own population?  Blocking supply routes gives them practically zero leverage. Already over 60% of NATO supplies are routed through air or  "northern routes", not Pakistan. NATO has been  quitely preparing for this day for most of   last year or so. Reportedly they have six months supplies in hand. They are not breaking any sweat! Retaking Shamsi airbase may put some temporary breaks on drones but one shudders to think what other alternatives Nato has access to. Long range stealth bombers; missiles.....,it can soon turn into Pakistan's worst  nightmare!  Why is it hard to understand that a negotiated, peaceful  and independent Afghanistan is in everyone's best interests.

Of all the stupid things one could have done the worst was boycotting Bonn! They went ahead and did it too!  If there was  any proof needed  for  the oft  repeated Afghan refrain that Pakistan is the biggest obstacle in achieving peace; you have given them proof.- Idiots ! They are rubbing it in at Bonn. There ! didn't we  say so ?


Ironically Pakistani Army is making these  rank bad  decisions  for the love of their country. Their policies have continuously backfired time and again from kashmir to kargil ;even when faced with a comparatively weaker adversary -India. And now they have an entirely different beast to counter! Only time can tell what kind of misery will they bring upon the hapless people of Pakistan this time round. Their policies have great margin for error which they compound by having no room for any doubt!