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India-Pakistan
India wants Pakistan action, not "war hysteria" says PM Singh
2008-12-23
India asked Pakistan on Tuesday to avoid "war hysteria" and simply act to dismantle the terrorist infrastructure operating in its country.
Manmohan Singh finds this 'simple'. Indeed, dismantling terrorist training camps would seem to be logical to most of us but for Pakistan things are never so simple. To do this is to accept that Islam will not dominate the Indian subcontinent, that India will not be broken up, that the Pak state will not be supreme amongst the remnants. Pakistan by design has a strong center, with diffuse borders ever ready to expand with the help of mujahidden. To shut down jihad is to truncate the Pak state, to make it normal. Pakistan was never meant to be a normal state.
"The issue is not war, the issue is terror and territory in Pakistan being used to promote, aid and abet this terror," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told reporters. "Nobody wants war."

India has blamed Pakistani militants for last month's attacks on Mumbai that killed 179 people and says Pakistan is not fulfilling a promise to crack down on extremists and prevent them using its soil to attack other countries.

As tension between the nuclear-armed South Asian neighbours simmered, Pakistani Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani warned on Monday that the armed forces were fully capable of defending the country and the people would be united if war was imposed.

But Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Pakistan should focus on the issues. "The issue is not creating war hysteria or raising accusing finger against others".

"(The) question is there has been a sinister, heinous terrorist attack on Mumbai from the elements in Pakistan. India has requested Pakistan to take action against the perpetrators," he told reporters.

Mukherjee has previously said "all options" were open to India to pressure Pakistan after the Mumbai attacks, but analysts said a military strike remains very unlikely, as it would strengthen the hand of hawks and extremists in Pakistan.

Instead India is trying to build an international diplomatic consensus to put pressure on Pakistan, and has received support from the United States and the United Nations. Pakistan strenuously denies any state links to the Mumbai attack.
Posted by:john frum

#1  The Pakistani journalist Ayaz Amir on
What, then, was partition all about?
So what was the compelling reason for the Muslims to insist on a separate homeland especially when there was no going around the uncomfortable fact that, no matter how generously the frontiers of the new state were drawn, an uncomfortably large number of Muslims would remain in India?

The purpose of Pakistan, transcending anything to do with safeguarding Islam or promoting democracy, was to create conditions for the Muslims of India, or those who found themselves in the new state, to recreate the days of their lost glory.
Posted by: john frum   2008-12-23 14:53  

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