Pakistan losing clout in world
Wednesday - February 27, 2019 1:19 pm ,
Category : WTN SPECIAL
WTN- As the coffin of Ratan Thakur, one of the martyrs of the Pulwama carnage, reached draped in the tri-colour to his native village in Bhagalpur of Bihar, his father looked stern and resolute.
Even as his eyes glistened in tears which he could not hold back despite his best attempts, he prided on his son’s sacrifice. His voice wavered when he spoke but there was fire in his heart. “I will send my younger son too in the forces to defend the borders,” he said. Elsewhere, in Odisha, as Jagan Sahu sat consoling his mother at the makeshift CRPF camp in Bhubaneswar, he too was livid.
His father Prasanna Sahu had died for the nation. “His sacrifice should not go in vain,” Jagan retorted. The same story is enacted everywhere where broken mothers and shaken wives try to come to terms with the gory reality of their lives. Some have lost their father, some their brother, some their young son, some their loving husband.
Everywhere there is feeling of sorrow mixed with valorous pride, a pain of defeat mixed with the call for revenge. There is desperation, an air of impatience and restlessness to do something to avenge the mindless bloodletting. There is angst and anxiety, there is also courage and an indomitable spirit to bounce back, resist and retaliate. As the distraught families try to rise from the ashes and rebuild life around the memories of their greatest heroes, a whole nation mourns their loss and stands in solidarity against Pakistan’s unforgivable act.
Death in war is one thing, for which there is a kind of mental preparation, but unwarranted death, a nasty surprise in times of peace, takes the discourse to a different level. Here it amounts to attacking an unarmed warrior yet in his sleep, which is against the ethics of warfare. It is a cowardly act and undermines the very logic of war or the bravery associated with it. War has a purpose and a direction guided by some rules and codes. It is directed towards a fighting troop, which is an enemy in the battlefield. But to attack someone unprovoked and catch him unawares is treachery. It is a sheer ploy to raise tension and trample peace. It is a one-sided invasion without allowing a fair chance to the other to counter it. Notwithstanding all the goodwill and hand of friendship forwarded by PM Narendra Modi, Pakistan, the country on the verge of economic and administrative collapse, is leaving no stone unturned to disrupt peace and harmony in the region.
Pakistan is fast losing its clout in the world arena because of its titular government working under the diktats of a fanatic army and bigots who call themselves clerics. Democracy is in a shambles, the civil government has little power over military idiosyncrasies. In such a situation India is by default in a position of misfortune, because it has no one to engage with in a constructive dialogue process that can bring truce. What the civil dispensation wants, it cannot wield back in the country. What the military wants, a civil government cannot openly allow.
A foolhardy Pakistan army wants war. A civilized democratic set-up like India cannot allow that to happen, no matter how intense the provocation. This limitation of India, emboldens the army, which has no qualms going ahead with bloodshed and bedlam, even at the cost of peril to its people and economy. Pakistan’s growing frustration is understandable. Its bid to pitch in with the Kashmir issue in the UN General Assembly has always been greeted with lukewarm response and the Pak ploy to make the dying issue an international embroilment tanks inevitably.
Pakistan is losing ammunition to stay in relevance in world polity and diplomacy. American nonchalance towards issues of Pakistan and its winding up from Afghanistan has also made Pakistan feel isolated. The Trump administration has officially snubbed Pakistan on several issues including terrorism. Even China, Pak’s ally, is not supportive of terrorism. China’s interests are economic and peace is important for it to push its economic interests. Any tension between India and Pakistan bodes ill for Chinese business prospects.
To top them all, the great reception of Narendra Modi is the US and his success in clinching deals and breaking ice with investors worldwide, has come as the last nail on the coffin. India’s diplomatic ascendency is giving heartburns to many. All these factors combined together have pepped up the dispirited Pakistan government and army to engage in destructive occupations so that the Kashmir issue remains an issue and keeps India on tenterhooks. Pakistan is desperate to draw attention of the world so that it does not fall into oblivion and irrelevance much like Bangladesh or Nepal. Kashmir is the stock fodder that Pakistan lives on. As soon as things seem settling down a bit, it itches for misadventure.
The elections are round the corner. Pakistan thought this was the right time to start its nefarious deeds, so that the sensitive election process gets adversely hit and India gets a bad name, though it is another matter that the Indian government is prepared for all eventualities. Pakistan is undoubtedly testing India’s patience, and India must not lose its cool in the face of maverick overtures of its spoilt neighbour. Popular demand may push for a war that could put an end to all the skirmishes of over six decades, but a democratic and responsible government cannot pander to mass sentiment in a rash. War is to be avoided at all costs, and India has always stood for peace and brotherhood. Sanity is no armour in front of insanity, but one cannot lose one’s judgment and wisdom in inclement times, stooping to the weird demands of a rumpled nation.
India has retaliated perfectly well by diplomatic and logistic clampdowns and in good time and such a tough stand has not been shown by her for long. If Pakistan has any sense of humanity and intelligence left, it would stall its unsavoury spoils, for its own benefit and for the good of people at large. If development and prosperity is anywhere in its agenda, it would first have to stop violence, or else it will go down the abyss of ignominious downturn.
Narendra Modi is a tough PM and Pakistan knows that, it’s specious vituperative might be a clear sign of its wobbling status. India will have to wait and watch, strengthening its own internal defense mechanism and secure the border with counter retaliation in small doses. It should not help escalate tension, but at the same time cannot and must not bear the onslaught with the forgiving generosity of the Buddha. What it can take from Buddha is the middle path— it should not go far in either direction and bring Pakistan strategically to a point where it will either break down or abandon prospects of war.
There are multiple diplomatic, economic and military options with India which it should explore and keep in handy for time of exigency, for what happens next and how things turn up in the times to come is best left to conjecture. We can only hope and earnestly wish that at last peace wins and good sense prevails upon Pakistan and its military and religious heads, so that an era of Asian development is ushered in, as envisaged by the Indian leadership. -Window To News
Even as his eyes glistened in tears which he could not hold back despite his best attempts, he prided on his son’s sacrifice. His voice wavered when he spoke but there was fire in his heart. “I will send my younger son too in the forces to defend the borders,” he said. Elsewhere, in Odisha, as Jagan Sahu sat consoling his mother at the makeshift CRPF camp in Bhubaneswar, he too was livid.
His father Prasanna Sahu had died for the nation. “His sacrifice should not go in vain,” Jagan retorted. The same story is enacted everywhere where broken mothers and shaken wives try to come to terms with the gory reality of their lives. Some have lost their father, some their brother, some their young son, some their loving husband.
Everywhere there is feeling of sorrow mixed with valorous pride, a pain of defeat mixed with the call for revenge. There is desperation, an air of impatience and restlessness to do something to avenge the mindless bloodletting. There is angst and anxiety, there is also courage and an indomitable spirit to bounce back, resist and retaliate. As the distraught families try to rise from the ashes and rebuild life around the memories of their greatest heroes, a whole nation mourns their loss and stands in solidarity against Pakistan’s unforgivable act.
Death in war is one thing, for which there is a kind of mental preparation, but unwarranted death, a nasty surprise in times of peace, takes the discourse to a different level. Here it amounts to attacking an unarmed warrior yet in his sleep, which is against the ethics of warfare. It is a cowardly act and undermines the very logic of war or the bravery associated with it. War has a purpose and a direction guided by some rules and codes. It is directed towards a fighting troop, which is an enemy in the battlefield. But to attack someone unprovoked and catch him unawares is treachery. It is a sheer ploy to raise tension and trample peace. It is a one-sided invasion without allowing a fair chance to the other to counter it. Notwithstanding all the goodwill and hand of friendship forwarded by PM Narendra Modi, Pakistan, the country on the verge of economic and administrative collapse, is leaving no stone unturned to disrupt peace and harmony in the region.
Pakistan is fast losing its clout in the world arena because of its titular government working under the diktats of a fanatic army and bigots who call themselves clerics. Democracy is in a shambles, the civil government has little power over military idiosyncrasies. In such a situation India is by default in a position of misfortune, because it has no one to engage with in a constructive dialogue process that can bring truce. What the civil dispensation wants, it cannot wield back in the country. What the military wants, a civil government cannot openly allow.
A foolhardy Pakistan army wants war. A civilized democratic set-up like India cannot allow that to happen, no matter how intense the provocation. This limitation of India, emboldens the army, which has no qualms going ahead with bloodshed and bedlam, even at the cost of peril to its people and economy. Pakistan’s growing frustration is understandable. Its bid to pitch in with the Kashmir issue in the UN General Assembly has always been greeted with lukewarm response and the Pak ploy to make the dying issue an international embroilment tanks inevitably.
Pakistan is losing ammunition to stay in relevance in world polity and diplomacy. American nonchalance towards issues of Pakistan and its winding up from Afghanistan has also made Pakistan feel isolated. The Trump administration has officially snubbed Pakistan on several issues including terrorism. Even China, Pak’s ally, is not supportive of terrorism. China’s interests are economic and peace is important for it to push its economic interests. Any tension between India and Pakistan bodes ill for Chinese business prospects.
To top them all, the great reception of Narendra Modi is the US and his success in clinching deals and breaking ice with investors worldwide, has come as the last nail on the coffin. India’s diplomatic ascendency is giving heartburns to many. All these factors combined together have pepped up the dispirited Pakistan government and army to engage in destructive occupations so that the Kashmir issue remains an issue and keeps India on tenterhooks. Pakistan is desperate to draw attention of the world so that it does not fall into oblivion and irrelevance much like Bangladesh or Nepal. Kashmir is the stock fodder that Pakistan lives on. As soon as things seem settling down a bit, it itches for misadventure.
The elections are round the corner. Pakistan thought this was the right time to start its nefarious deeds, so that the sensitive election process gets adversely hit and India gets a bad name, though it is another matter that the Indian government is prepared for all eventualities. Pakistan is undoubtedly testing India’s patience, and India must not lose its cool in the face of maverick overtures of its spoilt neighbour. Popular demand may push for a war that could put an end to all the skirmishes of over six decades, but a democratic and responsible government cannot pander to mass sentiment in a rash. War is to be avoided at all costs, and India has always stood for peace and brotherhood. Sanity is no armour in front of insanity, but one cannot lose one’s judgment and wisdom in inclement times, stooping to the weird demands of a rumpled nation.
India has retaliated perfectly well by diplomatic and logistic clampdowns and in good time and such a tough stand has not been shown by her for long. If Pakistan has any sense of humanity and intelligence left, it would stall its unsavoury spoils, for its own benefit and for the good of people at large. If development and prosperity is anywhere in its agenda, it would first have to stop violence, or else it will go down the abyss of ignominious downturn.
Narendra Modi is a tough PM and Pakistan knows that, it’s specious vituperative might be a clear sign of its wobbling status. India will have to wait and watch, strengthening its own internal defense mechanism and secure the border with counter retaliation in small doses. It should not help escalate tension, but at the same time cannot and must not bear the onslaught with the forgiving generosity of the Buddha. What it can take from Buddha is the middle path— it should not go far in either direction and bring Pakistan strategically to a point where it will either break down or abandon prospects of war.
There are multiple diplomatic, economic and military options with India which it should explore and keep in handy for time of exigency, for what happens next and how things turn up in the times to come is best left to conjecture. We can only hope and earnestly wish that at last peace wins and good sense prevails upon Pakistan and its military and religious heads, so that an era of Asian development is ushered in, as envisaged by the Indian leadership. -Window To News
