Pakistan, no doubt, hosts the Ivy league of terrorist organizations, but to name, shame & expose our rouge neighbor –isolation may not be the key – rather more involvement. Here’s why.
A week after the Uri attack, India is seething with anger – any conceivable poll shows beyond doubt that people want Pakistan to pay. However, after talk of war/ surgical strikes/ water blockage/ international isolation, we are down to demanding Pakistani actors be banned from working in India and that India stop playing cricket with Pakistan.
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ContributeThe bluster that the former Chief Minister of Gujarat used to display after a Pakistani strike has now been replaced with a measured tone (and virtual absence from Twitter post-Uri). Perhaps the government is realising what the UPA knew for some time – a conflict with a nation that is itching for it (and has nothing to lose) is not a great idea. But with limited military options – will our revenge for Uri be limited to breaking chairs in 9pm debates and taking away the work visas of a few Pakistani actors? If yes, then India surely will boast of having the Ivy league of idiots.
“Pakistan must be answered in the one language it understands” – this has been the slogan of the Prime Ministers and nationalists for quite some time. Perhaps that’s where the problem lies. Why not answer Pakistan in the language that it DOESN’T comprehend? A language NOT of revenge, guns, bombs, attack – rather assimilation, economy, strategy and future.
If you haven’t already dispatched me to Pakistan, let me explain.
With limited room to maneuver on the military front, India has to think out of the box. If diplomatic isolation worked, then North Korea and Iran would have dissolved till now (not to mention how we couldn’t even stop Russia from hosting its first ever joint military exercise with Pakistan). So what remains is bleeding Pakistan with a thousand economic cuts, humiliating it with defections on a daily basis, sidelining its impotent government with direct engagement with Pakistani people. In short, finally proving the superior might of India without firing a single bullet.
The cold war finally ended with United States of America on top – not because it had more nuclear bombs and muscle, but because its way of life was superior, its fundamentals were stronger and it offered a better opportunity of life. Time we take some lessons from there.
Of course we can carry on with symbolic acts of boycott and isolation (something that the terror minds want anyway). In that case, the neighbor of Terror-State-Pakistan would be India, the nation that hosts the Ivy League of Idiots.
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