It makes satisfying reading, this sudden soft attitude of Pakistan towards India, now that they are assailed by more serious problems (A Midstream Game..., May 7). But still, we never should have left the job unfinished when the enemy was weak. Look what we did in ’71: returned 1,00,000 POWs and captured land, and didn’t force a resolution of Kashmir. And what did we get in return? Even in the middle of this much-talked-about ‘wave of peace’, Pakistan won’t arrest Dawood and Hafiz Saeed.

Ravi Seru, Vancouver

Whatever grave existential crises Pakistanis are going through is their collective karma—they’ve played with fire for long, it’s their fate to be singed, at last, by the conflagration.

Alakshyendra, Hyderabad

The murdered journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad had said that the Pakistani political and military elite failed their country in four ways. First, they failed to build a national identity embracing the Pashtoon, Punjabi, Sindhi and Baloch ethnic groups. Instead, they built an identity based on opposition to India, while militants have recently begun building an Islamist one. Second, the elites have time only for national security, and therefore allocate most of its scarce resources to the military at the expense of education, healthcare and infrastructure. Third, they have, for various reasons, encouraged or at least tolerated jehadi groups that infest the country now. And fourth, the elite and powers-that-be in Pakistan have allowed the country to fragment along ethnic lines. Thus Punjabis are over-represented in the army and the bureaucracy: the others naturally this.

A.K. Ghai, Mumbai

It’s natural for Pakistan to want a withdrawal from Siachen—for the snake they had bred for their beloved strategic depth is now starting to bite in Waziristan. And since the army is the first, last and only solution they can think of, they need boots on the ground on their western front. Naturally, the eastern front has to be quiet.

G. Bose, Calcutta

Corrigenda l In the article A Midstream Game For You and Me (May 7), the caption, “Indian, Pakistani army officers exchange sweets on Id at Wagah”, attributed to a picture showing men in uniform, is wrong. The picture is actually of BSF and Pakistan Rangers officials, not of Indian and Pak army officials. The photo shows Sanjeev Bhanot, DIG, BSF, Amritsar, exchanging sweets with Maj Gen Mian Mohammed Hilal Hussain, Director General, Pakistan Rangers (Punjab), on Aug 14, 2011, at the Attari-Wagah border.

Ram Awtar, DIG(G), BSF New Delhi

• Apropos The Inner Line (May 21), the band ‘The Mangalz’ is misspelt as ‘The Mangalaz’ on page 36.
• Tahir Mehdi works for Punjab Lok Sujag, not Punjab Lok Suhag, as mentioned on page 16 of Outlook (May 28).

"Though he mentions Kashmir as something that needs to be tackled, he feels an agreement on mutual withdrawal of troops from Siachen is achievable."

The only thing that "needs to be tackled" in Kashmir is for the Pakistanis to withdraw from territory they had seized using armed force.

Of course the Pakistanis want mutual withdrawal from Siachen - the snake they had bred for their beloved strategic depth is now starting to bite in Swat. And since the Army is the first, last and only solution they can think of, they need boots on the ground on their western front. So obviously, they need all quiet on their eastern front. This decision must be taken by India from a position of strength.

However, we Indians can afford to be more mature than they. We can offer access to the Indian market for Pakistani goods, we may even reduce tariff barriers - although maybe giving the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan, even on a non-reciprocal basis, was practically (and not rhetorically) the best step forward.

In the immortal words of Edward Lear, "Does he study the wants of his own dominion? Or doesn't he care for public opinion a JOT, the Akond of Swat?"

' Anti-India agenda costs Pakistan dearly

Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan by Ahmed Rashid 

   Pakistan bureau chief Syed Saleem Shahzad last May.Pakistani political and military elites, he argues, have failed their country in four interrelated regards. First, they have failed to build a national identity embracing the Pashtun, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Baloch ethnic groups. The military has instead only built an identity based on opposition to India, while militants have recently begun building an Islamist one.
Second, elites have fixated on national security and allocated exorbitant funds upon the military at the expense of education, healthcare, and infrastructure - a predilection that civilian leaders dare not challenge. Third, elites have encouraged or at least tolerated jihadi groups that strike targets in the region and occasionally turn on Pakistan as well. Fourth, elites have allowed the country to fragment along ethnic lines. Punjabis are over-represented in the army and state to the resentment of other peoples. The Balochs have begun their fifth insurgency and many Pashtun tribes are at war with the government. '

www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ND28Df01.html

It will be wrong to write off Pakistan and treat it as ripe for dismemberment .It has the solid support all the Islamic Countries and backing of Oil producing Arabs .India pays hard cash to Arabs and even Iran where as Pakistan gets credits and facility for deferred payments.

Pakistan has the biggest source of hidden dollars earnings that is its under ground Nuke Trade.
Even today Pak as a Country is united under flag of Islam against the Kaffir India and this charade of friendship,dostana ,bhaichara and common history are waved by one and all to hoodwink us .

We Indians are sentimental about Pakistan and always are taken by their overtures of chota bhai-barra bhai syndrome.

Pakis game plan is simple ,very simple and extremely intelligent get Saichin without firing a bullet as they know that to retake militarily Saichin is impossible now .Because any one who occupies the glacier can never be dislodged by force by any enemy how so ever powerful he may be .

They are just playing to the ego of Manmohan Singh whose penchant to be remembered by the future generations a man of peace is well known by now.

We had aalredy one .Inder Kumar Gujral who destroyed RAW operations in Pakistan as a gesture of Dostana .India as a result faced brutally severest high pitched  insurgency operations  in Kashmir after  once Pakistan was assured of calm in its bye lanes with elimination of RAW Ops.And don't underestimate the most brutal elimination and liquidation of RAW's human re-sources in Pakistan.

Hence all these cunningly sweet  songs and melodious sounds of Dostana wafting from across Wagaha should be taken with utmost caution .

When childern we were told the story of a Tiger cuaght in a cage and tiger promised with sweetest pleadings of gifting of  Gold bangles to old man if the door of the Cage was opened .

Will the cage be opened in Islamabad by Manmohan Singh ???

Let's stop pretending that Pakistan is a real country. A random patchwork formed from the peripheral territories of great civilizations, it never had a history, has an intractable present and has absolutely no future. It's purpose as a foothold of British Empire in the subcontinent has long become obsolete and so has Pakistan. The only honest thing to do with Pakistan is to derecognize it. Free up Balochistan, NWFP, PoK and let Sindhi's and West Panjabis hammer out the rest.

"Pakistani leaders acknowledge that since most outstanding issues between the two sides are difficult to resolve in a hurry, trade offers an ideal neutral terrain for cooperation and reducing tension. This can help reduce the “trust deficit” and allow the two sides to de-emotionalise the intractable issues."

There are no "two sides". The "India side" is a genuine nation, and the other is a band of thugs, terrorists and shady fly-by-night operators. The dialog between present-day Pakistan and Republic of India should be held at the same level as the dialog between maoists and the Republic Of India

For once, we should read Chankya's work and follow the advice. Never leave the job unfinished when the enemy is weak. Look what we did in 1971. We were kind and generous to Bhuttoo and returned 100.000 POWs, land and did not force resolution of Kashmir problem. What did we get in return? Pakistan armed with nuclear weapons, Kargill, Kashmir insurgency, Mumbai attacks etc. Even in the middle of "wave of peace", Pakistanis will not arrest Daood Ibrahim, Maulana Saeed etc.

Whatever Pakistan is undergoing is Pakis' collective karma -- they played with fire and are now getting singed. We have no business bailing them out. Bring out the popcorn and a handkerchief to wipe your tears after watching the tragic melodrama unfold across the Radcliffe, but nothing beyond that. That's all we owe Pakistan.

I don't believe it for a minute.

Yes, I am one of the "skeptics" and I believe Pak is indulging in these sham "peace" initiatives only because they have been squeezed from inside and outside for too long. They want a breather and have made a tactical decision to cool off things temporarily until they can regroup in a few years time.

Ever since the loss of East Pakistan and then under Ziaul Haq, they have made a national consensus that for their any remaining survival, they need to cut India down to size, starting with Kashmir. It is a national aspiration which binds all their institutions and pillars of power into one potent, focused and fanatical thrust. It starts early when their children soon after the birth are fed a daily dose of hatred and contempt for anything and everything Indian and this had been going on now for almost a generation. I do not for a minute believe that they can simply turn things on their heads this suddenly, just because of their this new found revelation for peace and admiration for Bharath as they say. Pure BS.

It will behoove for India to tread very carefully in dealing with its neighbour. India should realize that whatever they give away to reciprocate this so called "peaceful" face Pak, can come back to haunt them the moment a bearded mullah in army uniform, frothing at the mouth, takes over power there.

Any "peace" in the subcontinent can be at the most fleeting, and at worst can be real harmful for a pansy Indian nation if they truly believe that this leopard too can now look like a zebra.
 

 "Besieged in Af-Pak and festering with sores, Pakistan sees the virtues of peace with India"

Yeah right!!! Outlook has been consistent in carrying Pak waters. I remember the stories in Outlook about the good ISI and the rogue ISI and how the rogue ISI was destroying the peace which everyone else wants. I have seen countless stories in the last twenty years about Pakistan seeing the necessity and virtues of peace with India.

One just has to go back and read what the media was saying during the Lahore bus trip. Articles appearing in Outlook today are recycled versions of the old articles.

Pakistan shall very soon realize the futility of giving free hand to Chinese. After it "understood" USA foreign policy of opportunism and imperialism it had turned to China for some support out of sheer fear of India.

We can remember how Nawaz sheriff ran to China with fear and trepidation during Kargil war. Vajpayee would every morning make phone call to Nawaz and warn that he would order IAF to finish Karachi port and Nawaz would politely reply that Pakistan army never involved in Kargil occupation and it was the work of Afghan mercenaries helped by Jihadists.

In any case China refused to help and advised Nawaz to withdraw from Kargil.

Vajpayee was advised by beurocrats as well defense research analysts of various groups that we should leave Pakistan to destroy itself and even estimated that Pakistan would become another Afghanistan in just about 10 years. ( by leaving it alone instead of a deep penetration punishing strikes as a retaliation for Kargil ) . Our inexperienced Vajpayee listened to this advice later only to regret. Vajpayee several times told the press that we lost a great opportunity to punish Pakistan.

While ISI crooks engineered arson, loot, rape of pundit families of Kashmir resulting in their becoming refugees in their own country, V.P.Singh had no nerve to take POK as a punishment and retaliation. Just imagine what Indira Gandhi could have done ? I cannot imagine that she would be a helpless onlooker while lakhs of Kashmiri pundits were leaving their homes and settling on footpaths in Delhi.

Manmohan Singh is worse than Vajpayee , there is no doubt about it. Any over enthusiasm to do friendship with Pakistan is dangerous.
What we want is a real democratic, secular society in Pakistan, if it is not there, India had better keeping away from it.

"Bridging the gap between perception and reality is one of the biggest challenges for us,”

Indeed.

Pakistan wants this 'peace' with India only because it wants to relocate its troops from the Indian border to the Afghan one. So it is important for them to keep the Indian border quiet. The Pakistanis can never be trusted. The Indian army should take advantage of the lower troop strength on the Pak side to carry out quick cross border raids and neutralize the terror camps in PoK.

Pakistan is the best thing that happened to India in 1000 years - ELSE Taliban would have been in AFIND and not AFPAK. KASAB and friends would have come by Frontier Mail to MUMABI to convert it to another KARACHI.---------------------- Friendship will Pak will result in influx of PAKIs to India exactly the way BANGLADESHIS have "flooded" ASSAM & BENGAL overflowing into rest of India.---------------------------------- Build a 10 FEET WALL from Gujarat to Kashmir and only allow "one way" transit between India & Pakistan- only towards Pakistan and not back to India.  

At the end of the day, Pakistan's alliances with the United States and China will prove illusory. The only natural and lasting alliance it can make is with India. This will take time but it does not require prior resolution of all disputes.

Such articles make for niceties, but have no practical relevance.

It may not please the jokers of "Aman ki aasha" brigade, but any expectations of peace with Pakistan is a pointless endeavour. The best case for Indo-Pak relationship is to remain agnostic to each other. 

The biggest threat for India comes from two directions: 1. Nuclear/ Missile capabilities falling into the hands of the Jehadis; 2. Indo-Pak conflict turning into an 'India vs. Pak-China' conflict.

The nice soundbytes from Pakistan is not a genuine gesture. It is simply a financial compulsioin for Pakistan to keep their eastern borders normal. It will replaced by usual posturing once the US Drones go away. 

Indian rulers/Journalists sufffer from the "Prithviraj Chouhan" syndrome.. This was seen in the 1971 war with pakistan also.. They dont understand the interest of nation and its people and live with false ideas.. As they say history repeats itself. If the indian population doesn't wake up, what happened to Prithviraj Chouhan and his kindom will end up happening to India.

"For example, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s initiative in 1999 that ended in the Kargil war, or Asif Ali Zardari’s attempt in 2008 to develop friendly ties, which was followed by the Mumbai terror attacks. What seems new this time is the fact that the avid seriousness with which Pakistan seeks peace with India is also aired by all “the stakeholders” " Pranay Sharma

In 1191, Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghori at the first Battle of Tarain. Instead of killing him, he was magnanimous in victory and let Ghori go. In 1192, Ghori returned with a bigger army. He defeated Prithviraj Chauhan and killed him. Delhi fell to the Muslim invaders and India did not emerge from the darkness again till 1947.

Hindus have always suffered from this fatal character flaw - instead of cutting off the heads of wounded snakes, we let them go, and strut around pleased with ourselves for our magnanimity and generosity. Once the snake recovers, it slithers right back, and it starts all over again.

Hafiz Saeed is still loose in Pakistan, protected by the ISI and funded by the Saudis. A few days ago, he gave an interview to the Daily Mail in England in which promised to cut India into pieces, and "subjugate Hindus" like Muslims had in the past.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2125252/Lashkar-monster-Hafiz-Saeed-is-mission-ruin-India.html

Pakistan has not given up its claim on Kashmir and it continues to expand its nuclear bomb inventory at a faster rate than any other country. The US and NATO are withdrawing rapidly from Afghanistan, and in another year, Pakistan and the ISI will have free reign over Afghanistan. Hindu girls are being abducted, converted and forcibly "married" to Muslims all over Pakistan with no intervention from the authorities.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suhag-a-shukla-esq/growing-up-hindu-in-pakistan_b_1449374.html

But Pranay Sharma knows - knows - that this time around Pakistan really wants peace.

The essence of the problem is that Hindiwallas like Sharma feel closer to Pakistanis culturally than they do to Indians from Kerala or Bengal. So no matter how many times Pakistanis kick them in the ass, they are ready to jump into bed with Pakistan as soon as some random fellow in Lahore makes a few remarks about peace.

As the British said, the Hindoo has a sense of the past but no sense of history.

 It is waiting game

This time it is different.

This time it is different.

 It is waiting game

"For example, Atal Behari Vajpayee’s initiative in 1999 that ended in the Kargil war, or Asif Ali Zardari’s attempt in 2008 to develop friendly ties, which was followed by the Mumbai terror attacks. What seems new this time is the fact that the avid seriousness with which Pakistan seeks peace with India is also aired by all “the stakeholders” " Pranay Sharma

In 1191, Prithviraj Chauhan defeated Muhammad Ghori at the first Battle of Tarain. Instead of killing him, he was magnanimous in victory and let Ghori go. In 1192, Ghori returned with a bigger army. He defeated Prithviraj Chauhan and killed him. Delhi fell to the Muslim invaders and India did not emerge from the darkness again till 1947.

Hindus have always suffered from this fatal character flaw - instead of cutting off the heads of wounded snakes, we let them go, and strut around pleased with ourselves for our magnanimity and generosity. Once the snake recovers, it slithers right back, and it starts all over again.

Hafiz Saeed is still loose in Pakistan, protected by the ISI and funded by the Saudis. A few days ago, he gave an interview to the Daily Mail in England in which promised to cut India into pieces, and "subjugate Hindus" like Muslims had in the past.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2125252/Lashkar-monster-Hafiz-Saeed-is-mission-ruin-India.html

Pakistan has not given up its claim on Kashmir and it continues to expand its nuclear bomb inventory at a faster rate than any other country. The US and NATO are withdrawing rapidly from Afghanistan, and in another year, Pakistan and the ISI will have free reign over Afghanistan. Hindu girls are being abducted, converted and forcibly "married" to Muslims all over Pakistan with no intervention from the authorities.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/suhag-a-shukla-esq/growing-up-hindu-in-pakistan_b_1449374.html

But Pranay Sharma knows - knows - that this time around Pakistan really wants peace.

The essence of the problem is that Hindiwallas like Sharma feel closer to Pakistanis culturally than they do to Indians from Kerala or Bengal. So no matter how many times Pakistanis kick them in the ass, they are ready to jump into bed with Pakistan as soon as some random fellow in Lahore makes a few remarks about peace.

As the British said, the Hindoo has a sense of the past but no sense of history.

Indian rulers/Journalists sufffer from the "Prithviraj Chouhan" syndrome.. This was seen in the 1971 war with pakistan also.. They dont understand the interest of nation and its people and live with false ideas.. As they say history repeats itself. If the indian population doesn't wake up, what happened to Prithviraj Chouhan and his kindom will end up happening to India.

Such articles make for niceties, but have no practical relevance.

It may not please the jokers of "Aman ki aasha" brigade, but any expectations of peace with Pakistan is a pointless endeavour. The best case for Indo-Pak relationship is to remain agnostic to each other. 

The biggest threat for India comes from two directions: 1. Nuclear/ Missile capabilities falling into the hands of the Jehadis; 2. Indo-Pak conflict turning into an 'India vs. Pak-China' conflict.

The nice soundbytes from Pakistan is not a genuine gesture. It is simply a financial compulsioin for Pakistan to keep their eastern borders normal. It will replaced by usual posturing once the US Drones go away. 

At the end of the day, Pakistan's alliances with the United States and China will prove illusory. The only natural and lasting alliance it can make is with India. This will take time but it does not require prior resolution of all disputes.

Pakistan is the best thing that happened to India in 1000 years - ELSE Taliban would have been in AFIND and not AFPAK. KASAB and friends would have come by Frontier Mail to MUMABI to convert it to another KARACHI.---------------------- Friendship will Pak will result in influx of PAKIs to India exactly the way BANGLADESHIS have "flooded" ASSAM & BENGAL overflowing into rest of India.---------------------------------- Build a 10 FEET WALL from Gujarat to Kashmir and only allow "one way" transit between India & Pakistan- only towards Pakistan and not back to India.  

Pakistan wants this 'peace' with India only because it wants to relocate its troops from the Indian border to the Afghan one. So it is important for them to keep the Indian border quiet. The Pakistanis can never be trusted. The Indian army should take advantage of the lower troop strength on the Pak side to carry out quick cross border raids and neutralize the terror camps in PoK.

"Bridging the gap between perception and reality is one of the biggest challenges for us,”

Indeed.

Pakistan shall very soon realize the futility of giving free hand to Chinese. After it "understood" USA foreign policy of opportunism and imperialism it had turned to China for some support out of sheer fear of India.

We can remember how Nawaz sheriff ran to China with fear and trepidation during Kargil war. Vajpayee would every morning make phone call to Nawaz and warn that he would order IAF to finish Karachi port and Nawaz would politely reply that Pakistan army never involved in Kargil occupation and it was the work of Afghan mercenaries helped by Jihadists.

In any case China refused to help and advised Nawaz to withdraw from Kargil.

Vajpayee was advised by beurocrats as well defense research analysts of various groups that we should leave Pakistan to destroy itself and even estimated that Pakistan would become another Afghanistan in just about 10 years. ( by leaving it alone instead of a deep penetration punishing strikes as a retaliation for Kargil ) . Our inexperienced Vajpayee listened to this advice later only to regret. Vajpayee several times told the press that we lost a great opportunity to punish Pakistan.

While ISI crooks engineered arson, loot, rape of pundit families of Kashmir resulting in their becoming refugees in their own country, V.P.Singh had no nerve to take POK as a punishment and retaliation. Just imagine what Indira Gandhi could have done ? I cannot imagine that she would be a helpless onlooker while lakhs of Kashmiri pundits were leaving their homes and settling on footpaths in Delhi.

Manmohan Singh is worse than Vajpayee , there is no doubt about it. Any over enthusiasm to do friendship with Pakistan is dangerous.
What we want is a real democratic, secular society in Pakistan, if it is not there, India had better keeping away from it.

 "Besieged in Af-Pak and festering with sores, Pakistan sees the virtues of peace with India"

Yeah right!!! Outlook has been consistent in carrying Pak waters. I remember the stories in Outlook about the good ISI and the rogue ISI and how the rogue ISI was destroying the peace which everyone else wants. I have seen countless stories in the last twenty years about Pakistan seeing the necessity and virtues of peace with India.

One just has to go back and read what the media was saying during the Lahore bus trip. Articles appearing in Outlook today are recycled versions of the old articles.

I don't believe it for a minute.

Yes, I am one of the "skeptics" and I believe Pak is indulging in these sham "peace" initiatives only because they have been squeezed from inside and outside for too long. They want a breather and have made a tactical decision to cool off things temporarily until they can regroup in a few years time.

Ever since the loss of East Pakistan and then under Ziaul Haq, they have made a national consensus that for their any remaining survival, they need to cut India down to size, starting with Kashmir. It is a national aspiration which binds all their institutions and pillars of power into one potent, focused and fanatical thrust. It starts early when their children soon after the birth are fed a daily dose of hatred and contempt for anything and everything Indian and this had been going on now for almost a generation. I do not for a minute believe that they can simply turn things on their heads this suddenly, just because of their this new found revelation for peace and admiration for Bharath as they say. Pure BS.

It will behoove for India to tread very carefully in dealing with its neighbour. India should realize that whatever they give away to reciprocate this so called "peaceful" face Pak, can come back to haunt them the moment a bearded mullah in army uniform, frothing at the mouth, takes over power there.

Any "peace" in the subcontinent can be at the most fleeting, and at worst can be real harmful for a pansy Indian nation if they truly believe that this leopard too can now look like a zebra.
 

Whatever Pakistan is undergoing is Pakis' collective karma -- they played with fire and are now getting singed. We have no business bailing them out. Bring out the popcorn and a handkerchief to wipe your tears after watching the tragic melodrama unfold across the Radcliffe, but nothing beyond that. That's all we owe Pakistan.

For once, we should read Chankya's work and follow the advice. Never leave the job unfinished when the enemy is weak. Look what we did in 1971. We were kind and generous to Bhuttoo and returned 100.000 POWs, land and did not force resolution of Kashmir problem. What did we get in return? Pakistan armed with nuclear weapons, Kargill, Kashmir insurgency, Mumbai attacks etc. Even in the middle of "wave of peace", Pakistanis will not arrest Daood Ibrahim, Maulana Saeed etc.

Let's stop pretending that Pakistan is a real country. A random patchwork formed from the peripheral territories of great civilizations, it never had a history, has an intractable present and has absolutely no future. It's purpose as a foothold of British Empire in the subcontinent has long become obsolete and so has Pakistan. The only honest thing to do with Pakistan is to derecognize it. Free up Balochistan, NWFP, PoK and let Sindhi's and West Panjabis hammer out the rest.

"Pakistani leaders acknowledge that since most outstanding issues between the two sides are difficult to resolve in a hurry, trade offers an ideal neutral terrain for cooperation and reducing tension. This can help reduce the “trust deficit” and allow the two sides to de-emotionalise the intractable issues."

There are no "two sides". The "India side" is a genuine nation, and the other is a band of thugs, terrorists and shady fly-by-night operators. The dialog between present-day Pakistan and Republic of India should be held at the same level as the dialog between maoists and the Republic Of India

' Anti-India agenda costs Pakistan dearly

Pakistan on the Brink: The Future of America, Pakistan and Afghanistan by Ahmed Rashid 

   Pakistan bureau chief Syed Saleem Shahzad last May.Pakistani political and military elites, he argues, have failed their country in four interrelated regards. First, they have failed to build a national identity embracing the Pashtun, Punjabi, Sindhi, and Baloch ethnic groups. The military has instead only built an identity based on opposition to India, while militants have recently begun building an Islamist one.
Second, elites have fixated on national security and allocated exorbitant funds upon the military at the expense of education, healthcare, and infrastructure - a predilection that civilian leaders dare not challenge. Third, elites have encouraged or at least tolerated jihadi groups that strike targets in the region and occasionally turn on Pakistan as well. Fourth, elites have allowed the country to fragment along ethnic lines. Punjabis are over-represented in the army and state to the resentment of other peoples. The Balochs have begun their fifth insurgency and many Pashtun tribes are at war with the government. '

www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/ND28Df01.html

It will be wrong to write off Pakistan and treat it as ripe for dismemberment .It has the solid support all the Islamic Countries and backing of Oil producing Arabs .India pays hard cash to Arabs and even Iran where as Pakistan gets credits and facility for deferred payments.

Pakistan has the biggest source of hidden dollars earnings that is its under ground Nuke Trade.
Even today Pak as a Country is united under flag of Islam against the Kaffir India and this charade of friendship,dostana ,bhaichara and common history are waved by one and all to hoodwink us .

We Indians are sentimental about Pakistan and always are taken by their overtures of chota bhai-barra bhai syndrome.

Pakis game plan is simple ,very simple and extremely intelligent get Saichin without firing a bullet as they know that to retake militarily Saichin is impossible now .Because any one who occupies the glacier can never be dislodged by force by any enemy how so ever powerful he may be .

They are just playing to the ego of Manmohan Singh whose penchant to be remembered by the future generations a man of peace is well known by now.

We had aalredy one .Inder Kumar Gujral who destroyed RAW operations in Pakistan as a gesture of Dostana .India as a result faced brutally severest high pitched  insurgency operations  in Kashmir after  once Pakistan was assured of calm in its bye lanes with elimination of RAW Ops.And don't underestimate the most brutal elimination and liquidation of RAW's human re-sources in Pakistan.

Hence all these cunningly sweet  songs and melodious sounds of Dostana wafting from across Wagaha should be taken with utmost caution .

When childern we were told the story of a Tiger cuaght in a cage and tiger promised with sweetest pleadings of gifting of  Gold bangles to old man if the door of the Cage was opened .

Will the cage be opened in Islamabad by Manmohan Singh ???

"Though he mentions Kashmir as something that needs to be tackled, he feels an agreement on mutual withdrawal of troops from Siachen is achievable."

The only thing that "needs to be tackled" in Kashmir is for the Pakistanis to withdraw from territory they had seized using armed force.

Of course the Pakistanis want mutual withdrawal from Siachen - the snake they had bred for their beloved strategic depth is now starting to bite in Swat. And since the Army is the first, last and only solution they can think of, they need boots on the ground on their western front. So obviously, they need all quiet on their eastern front. This decision must be taken by India from a position of strength.

However, we Indians can afford to be more mature than they. We can offer access to the Indian market for Pakistani goods, we may even reduce tariff barriers - although maybe giving the Most Favoured Nation status to Pakistan, even on a non-reciprocal basis, was practically (and not rhetorically) the best step forward.

In the immortal words of Edward Lear, "Does he study the wants of his own dominion? Or doesn't he care for public opinion a JOT, the Akond of Swat?"