ISOLATE PAKISTAN

In the aftermath of the terror attacks in Mumbai, various intelligence agencies, both Indian and foreign, have investigated in depth all the facts and figures connected with the attackers and have gathered enough evidence to nail Pakistan as a nation abetting terror activities by providing a safe heaven to the perpetrators. India has already provided several dossiers to the Pak government substantiating the evidence that the neighbor’s territory is being used to carry out the operations involving its nationals, but to no avail.

The Pak response was understandable, a cold denial, as expected, to everything, even though the international agencies who joined the investigations have conclusively accepted the evidence. So long as the hardliners are calling the shots in Pakistan, the civilian government cannot act independently except as a spokesperson of the fundamentalists. In such a scenario, it will be impossible to make the neighboring state to take any effective measures to combat terror. Even if a technical ban is imposed to fulfill the international pressure, the culprits will regroup under different names and function as usual. The US has provided millions of dollars to Pakistan to combat terrorism, but these funds have been diverted elsewhere. The discredited nuclear scientist A.K. Khan, known for passing on the nuclear weapon technology to North Korea, Libya and Iran, has also been scot free by the by the Pakistan high court adding further testimony to the govt.’s intentions.

Surgical air strikes as a clean up operation will only worsen the scenario and may lead to a full scale war damaging the economies of both the countries already reeling under pressure due to the unprecedented global recession. This will also give Pak an opportunity to divert world attention from terrorism. How do we handle the situation?
In my opinion, we should isolate Pakistan among the international community. India should mount a major diplomatic offensive. Suspend diplomatic relations, stop all bilateral relations including trade and sporting ties and call upon all friendly nations who are potential targets of terror attacks to follow suit. Our diplomatic maneuvers with US, Russia and China has to be more effective to ensure a total barricade on the aid and arms supply to Pakistan. A UN resolution imposing an international embargo on the supply of military equipments to Pakistan will also help the cause.