Akshardham Temple

An excellent article about the Akshardham temple massacre by Varsha Bhosle - Passivity does not a nation protect. She might sound too “coulterish” for some, but I think she makes some excellent points with regards to the Indian Government’s response to various Pakistani-sponsored terror activities in India. The Gandhi-Nehru family (excluding Mohandas Gandhi, of course) screwed the country over with their over-reliance on UN resolutions and the lack of backbone to stand up to terrorists and thier concern for the Muslim “votebank”. The current administration of “Hindu Nationalists” as the media loves calling them are no better in this respect as she points out here —-

Then 9/11 happened, so did the attack on Parliament — and we stayed put… Despite urging from the Indian Army, we did not clean out the terror camps in the Indian territory usurped by the US’ vassal state. Instead, we simply mobilised the army at the frontiers; they’ve been there for nine months now. Result? “Stressed-out jawan kills CO after combat orders.” And, of course, after “India gives Pakistan two weeks to end terror,” we stopped train/bus services, overflights and the such. Last status of such threats:
4Opening of Pakistani airspace for India was not subject to the withdrawal of the forces, [Pakistan’s] secretary defence said. ‘It was a foolish act of India but a blessing in disguise for Pakistan. We will decide to open the airspace for India at our own schedule’… To correct its mistake, the Indian government announced on June 9 the restoration of airspace for the Pakistani planes. (Pak News.com, September 20)
4The Centre is no longer talking about the ‘list of 20’ to be returned, as one of the pre-conditions for talks. The Centre does not want to make this an issue right now, due to US pressure. Pakistan has reportedly convinced the US of the pitfalls of handing over Dawood Ibrahim, who figures in the list. (The Times of India, September 21)
4The Indian army has withdrawn three strike divisions from the Pakistan frontier, reducing its war readiness on the border as militant infiltrations decline, high-ranking army and government officials said on Tuesday. (Hindustan Times, July 16)

and here —

Next, we tried to send “secular” newspaper editors and a perpetually disgruntled former Union minister to talk to separatists in J&K and PoK. Last I heard about that:
4Srinagar observed a complete shutdown on Tuesday as the valley voted in the second phase of assembly election in J&K… the abysmally low voter turnout in Srinagar could easily be blamed on the Hurriyat Conference’s bandh call. (rediff.com, September 24)
4Soon after the Kashmir Committee proposed talks with Pakistan’s National Kashmir Committee, its leader [Abdul Qayyum] said time was not ‘conducive’ for dialogue. (The Pioneer, September 9)
4[Pakistan’s] Foreign Minister Innam-ul Haq and Foreign Secretary Riaz Khokhar have received instructions that no retired Indian army general, NGO activist or Indian intellectual will be entertained in future as the ‘messenger of peace.’ Only the Foreign Office will call the shots because of prevailing consensus that back-door diplomacy channels are always used to create misunderstanding between Pakistan and Kashmiris (The Weekly Independent, September 19)


What should be done to restore peace to the region? I don’t claim to know. This much I would say - India and Pakistan are two different countries and the Partition happened. You cannot reunite the land anymore than Pakistan and Bangladesh can be reunited. Each side bears scars of the Partition - some from personal experience and others from their relatives and close friends. Kashmir has already been divided into the Indian side, POK, and the Chinese-cotrolled area (Aksai Chin). Let the LOC become the border, and let every country keep whatever it already has and stop quibbling about more.

For this to work, though, it is very important that Pakistan reconsiders it’s raison d’etre. It cannot forever live as an anti-India. It needs to remake it’s identity as Pakistan and concentrate her energy on making her people better than on trying to one-up her neighbour. This all might seem too simplistic for some. But these are my thoughts and if anyone else has any other ideas, please email me and I promise to publish them here.