One of the gravest dangers to India, as pointed out in ‘Today Swat, tomorrow …?’, February 18, is the Pakistani acceptance that the Taliban controls the old Swat kingdom that is part of the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP). If the Sharia is to operate in this region today, where will this stop, and what does this mean in terms of the intensification of Islamist tendencies in our neighouring states?
In this context, the behaviour of the US is intriguing. There is little doubt that it was the US pressure that got Pakistan to admit the Mumbai terror attack was planned by its citizens and on its soil. Of course, admitting this is one thing, and doing something is quite another.
Possibly, the ‘admission’ was seen as something which would please India so much that it may not insist on any follow-up action! Given the reaction in India, this may not be an incorrect assumption either.
What is worrying is US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke’s statement in the newspapers on how India and Pakistan faced a common enemy. He was clearly referring to the Taliban, and this is precisely the point that Asif Ali Zardari has been making when talking of ‘non-state actors’ being involved in the crimes against India.
Whatever the outcome of India’s talks with Holbrooke, the lesson should be clear — India’s neighbourhood is getting a lot more radical and no one except us can tackle this. If we insist on running a weak government, we are to blame.
This is not an endorsement for the BJP’s policies. The BJP has been the biggest let-down for all Indians since all the party has done under its self-styled Sardar Patel is to call the Congress names. When it was in power for over six years, there is little it did to change anything. A tough state and bragging about machismo are two different things.
Shiv Kumar, New Delhi
