peacenik79
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This is my first post on this forum. I have been reading it for the past week or so off and on and I find so much hatred and war mongering. I think lots of people here just do'nt understand how horrible war actually is.
Well, although a lot has been spoken of military comparisons etc., most of which is biased based on which country you are from. Nobody has spoken on concrete path to bring down current tensions and working towards long term peace between India and Pakistan.
The biggest problem right now is that the people of both India and Pakistan are highly emotional and do not know how to control it and let it cloud their rational thoughts. There was a Pakistani author in Dawn newspaper 'Irfan Hussein' who said it best when he stated that when nationalism runs high, logic goes out of the window. The coverage of media in both India and Pakistan is an example of this phenomenon.
I think a squence of actions in the following order would work in terms of ensuring long term peace and development in the subcontinent.
1. Let the current temperatures cool down for a month or so. Avoid escalatory actions or statements on both sides.
2. Indian leaders should work to avoid jingoism in statements and find way to moderate their response after terrorist attacks. War is not a solution against pakistan because it will not solve the problem of terrorism. Even if they acheive military victory, terrorism will only likely increase because generations of Pakistanis have been brought up on anti-indian propaganda and their thinking in general is " We may go down, but we will take you down with us"
3. Pakistan should come out of denial and conspiracy theory mode and if there is any evidence that the captured terrorist is Pakistani (and the government for sure already knows the answer to this I think) then accept it and use it as a pretext to go hard after the LET, JUD, etc. and try to systematically destroy them. This process will be long and difficult and extremely painful but if peace is the goal, there is no alternative. In this process it may have to take on powerful elements in the military-intelligence circles but I think it is possible to outmanouvre them if strength of concivtion is there from Zardari and co.
4. India should marginalise the extremist reactionary Hindutva forces like Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, etc. politically. These guys only in the last 20 years or so have gained any kind of traction in Indian society. But their support base is still very thin. They are not military threats in the way that the Pak organisations above areyet, but if ledt unattended, they may morph into a problem just as bad as the Pakistani organisations above.
4. Above steps 3 and 4 will take a few years. In the meantime, both Pakistan and India should strengthen their internal security forces and work on intel sharing on a reciprocal basis to stop all major terror attacks in both countries. Also they must both develop their economies aggressively. For a few years if people on both sides get used to peace and economic development,the the constituence for peace will get much stronger.
5. Around 8-10 years down the line when the above process is complete, start talking and solving all mutual disputes. Any attempt to do so now will always be thwarted by extremist Pakistani and reactionary Hindutva forces.
If the above 4 steps take place, then the influence of these forces will be very much reduced and the atmosphere will be built up to ensure lasting peace talks.
I know that the lkelyhood of above things happening is not high given that Military Intelligence is an oxymoron and Pakistan is dominated still by military when it comes to external affairs and Indian public is still very immature and a significant portion of it is swayed by the foolish reactionary Hindutva forces.
But in time, I believe that the above will take place since I am an optimist.
Well, although a lot has been spoken of military comparisons etc., most of which is biased based on which country you are from. Nobody has spoken on concrete path to bring down current tensions and working towards long term peace between India and Pakistan.
The biggest problem right now is that the people of both India and Pakistan are highly emotional and do not know how to control it and let it cloud their rational thoughts. There was a Pakistani author in Dawn newspaper 'Irfan Hussein' who said it best when he stated that when nationalism runs high, logic goes out of the window. The coverage of media in both India and Pakistan is an example of this phenomenon.
I think a squence of actions in the following order would work in terms of ensuring long term peace and development in the subcontinent.
1. Let the current temperatures cool down for a month or so. Avoid escalatory actions or statements on both sides.
2. Indian leaders should work to avoid jingoism in statements and find way to moderate their response after terrorist attacks. War is not a solution against pakistan because it will not solve the problem of terrorism. Even if they acheive military victory, terrorism will only likely increase because generations of Pakistanis have been brought up on anti-indian propaganda and their thinking in general is " We may go down, but we will take you down with us"
3. Pakistan should come out of denial and conspiracy theory mode and if there is any evidence that the captured terrorist is Pakistani (and the government for sure already knows the answer to this I think) then accept it and use it as a pretext to go hard after the LET, JUD, etc. and try to systematically destroy them. This process will be long and difficult and extremely painful but if peace is the goal, there is no alternative. In this process it may have to take on powerful elements in the military-intelligence circles but I think it is possible to outmanouvre them if strength of concivtion is there from Zardari and co.
4. India should marginalise the extremist reactionary Hindutva forces like Shiv Sena, Bajrang Dal, etc. politically. These guys only in the last 20 years or so have gained any kind of traction in Indian society. But their support base is still very thin. They are not military threats in the way that the Pak organisations above areyet, but if ledt unattended, they may morph into a problem just as bad as the Pakistani organisations above.
4. Above steps 3 and 4 will take a few years. In the meantime, both Pakistan and India should strengthen their internal security forces and work on intel sharing on a reciprocal basis to stop all major terror attacks in both countries. Also they must both develop their economies aggressively. For a few years if people on both sides get used to peace and economic development,the the constituence for peace will get much stronger.
5. Around 8-10 years down the line when the above process is complete, start talking and solving all mutual disputes. Any attempt to do so now will always be thwarted by extremist Pakistani and reactionary Hindutva forces.
If the above 4 steps take place, then the influence of these forces will be very much reduced and the atmosphere will be built up to ensure lasting peace talks.
I know that the lkelyhood of above things happening is not high given that Military Intelligence is an oxymoron and Pakistan is dominated still by military when it comes to external affairs and Indian public is still very immature and a significant portion of it is swayed by the foolish reactionary Hindutva forces.
But in time, I believe that the above will take place since I am an optimist.