SPY EYES

Whether it is the local Prime Ministerial candidate, or the arms race in the South Asian peninsula, it takes no genius to comprehend the skewed dynamic between India and Pakistan. One decade into the 21^stcentury, while India is becoming ‘mighty’, Pakistan is becoming is overwhelmed by poverty, political instability, and social unrest. India and Pakistan talk about clearing the air over Kashmir, Mumbai attacks and the recent Line of Control unrest. The post United Nations General Assembly Meeting and hand shaking ceremony between Nawaz Sharif and Manmohan Singh shook hands in New York; it was a step closer to normalizing strained relations.

Over the past two decades, since the end of the Soviet War and the beginning of Pakistan’s democratic blunders, India’s spot as the largest democracy and a stable ally for the West in South Asia has been re-enforced. While Pakistani trained Mujahideen and porous borders from North to West gave way to proxy wars and ethnic bloodshed, India had woken from a slumber of internal reform and grown a strong economic backbone. Equipped to face the world with competitive industry and smart investment in the IT sector, Indians were set to conquer the World.

So come 2001, the attack on the twin towers, Taliban under Pakistan’s nose, our allies from not so long ago against the Communist Expansion have taken off on a tangent so dangerous that it threatens our existence. They have started questioning the treatments of their Kashmiri brethren, and Palestinians. They have started noticing the silence of the Muslims World. They were perhaps created as robots to combat a Soviet threat, but the ‘Jihadist’ element triggered a force that was invincible. A slow justice system, and a Pashtun population alienated from the national narrative; Taliban knew their audience well.

Amidst the volatile region, Afghanistan’s domestic unrest, and a war-zone next door, Pakistan has been undoubtedly at the brunt of a war it neither started nor pursued. “You are either with us or against us”. And the United States perhaps did not understand the gravity of the war. Iraq came under the fold; millions of Pakistanis have been affected by the war, the spillover of refugees, drugs and weapons. While we act as the shock absorber for the jerks of flawed international policies, India becomes mightier and more majestic as she strikes a pose as a capable heir.

Yet I would say Pakistan should not feel threatened. Pakistan has what any other country would envy: land access. Is it possible for India’s economic investments, security ventures and diplomatic finesse to bear ripe fruit without Pakistan on board? India’s media has been reporting a one sided story, in hope of electing a new party, and building an outside villain to distract her people from her internal demons, Pakistan is the enemy for this year’s opposition party. The Congress would let relations with Pakistan take the fall, but Singh feels otherwise.

Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan proves that good ties with the government will ensure a smoother transition, and a more handsome share of the pie in Afghanistan. However tensions along the LoC and an inability to make peace with Pakistan will lower India’s chances of taking over the huge responsibility that United States is still likely to trust India with. For the oppositions party (BJP), the current Congress government’s failure, under Singh’s premiership, will build a stronger case for a change in power. Showing Pakistan down should not be India’s priority on the national level, because it will make her seem helpless and incapable of handling her own borders, let alone act as a strong balancing force in the East. From the looks of it, India is aiming big. Yesterday India’s Foreign Minister made a bold statement, defending relations with Pakistan in Australia. It is telling of India’s need to make a strategic shift, away from the LoC blunders and state of helplessness that she exhibited over the past few weeks. This strategic edge can work wonders for Pakistan. Despite drones, despite the TTP, despite the porous borders; solutions to Pakistan’s problems are undoubtedly indigenous in nature.