On India- by ex-air mahshal Shahzad Chaudhry

[Suriya]

On India​

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

---

Shahzad ChaudhryJanuary 13, 2023

The writer is a political, security and defence analyst. He tweets @shazchy09 and can be contacted at shhzdchdhry@yahoo.com



If I were Henry Kissinger, I would write a treatise ‘On India’. Such has been the monumental change in India’s fortunes as a State and a player principally in Asia and broadly on the global stage. Modi may be a despised name in Pakistan, but he has done something to brand India which none before him was able to manage. Importantly, India does what it feels and to the extent she needs. And it all stays kosher. It is an ally of the US; a rub Pakistanis go to town with, complaining relentlessly about the US as its closet patron. We are delusionary and deceptive in assessing our standing and employ double-speak as an art, vilifying the US as a popular pastime while whingeing when it accosts India. Russia is under American sanctions, and none can trade freely with Russia except India which buys Russian oil on preferred terms and then re-export it to help an old patron earn dollars the indirect way. Two opposing military superpowers of the world claim India to be its ally. If this isn’t diplomatic coup, what is?

It all comes from one word — relevance. India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world. Consider. It has the fifth largest economy in the world, ahead of the UK. It is aimed to be the third largest economy in the world by 2037. It is fourth in FE Reserves with over 600 billion USDs — Pakistan currently holds 4.5 only. Its growth rate in GDP matches the best performing economies over the last three decades after China. She is projected to stay on that path. India has world’s second largest army and the third largest military. It may not be the strongest corresponding to the numbers, but it is on path to rapidly increasing its capacity and capability. The global list of billionaires has 140 Indians of which four are included in the top 100.

Mittal is steel giant. Ambanis run multiple interests varying from defence to telecom. Infosys, an IT giant, is a global name. So on and so forth. India stands amongst the top producers in agri-products and in the IT industry. Their yields per acre in agriculture match the best in the world. And despite being a country of over 1.4 billion people, it remains a relatively steady, coherent and functional polity. Their system of governance has withstood the test of time and proved its resilience around fundamentals essential to a resolute democracy. It may not be the most efficiently or most equitably run society, but it has held on to anchors which have paved the way for it to solidify what makes a nation. To many it may not be secular enough — its Constitution still is, even if attitudes of the power wielders are not. Under Modi it has crafted a religious-nationalist plank of its newer assertion and identity. Don’t balk. World over the trend is of the Right gaining eminence in social attitudes. Pakistan in this realm has its own set of challenges. Importantly, it seems to be working for Modi and India.

India jumped to a 100 billion USD reserves in 2004 from the measly 9.2 she had in 1992. Under Manmohan Singh, India increased her reserves to 252 billion USD by 2014. Under Modi these have galloped to over 600 billion and the GDP is sized over three trillion USDs. This is monumental progress which makes India a preferred destination for all investors. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s fraternal brother, announced an investment of over 72 billion USDs in India even as we beg her to invest the 7 billion promised for Pakistan. Pakistan’s iron-brother, China, pledged 10 million USD in the very latest donors conference in Geneva to help Pakistan out of its financial predicament as well as a looming bankruptcy, as did Pakistan’s favourite whipping boy, America. Somehow, both place equal premium on Pakistan’s prospects.

And though Indian writers have this propensity to overstate India’s heft and hem there should be no doubt that this century will see Asia defined by two most dominating nations in economic strength, military haughtiness and political impact — China and India. The gap between Pakistan and India is now unbridgeable. India has broken free of the shackles that kept her tied in South Asia and hyphenated in global perception with Pakistan. Beginning with Rajiv Gandhi to Modi there has been a clear distancing of the Indian foreign policy away from Pakistan. That turns India more Asia than just South Asia and a clout which is far expanded. The world has taken note and regardless how much we play China vs India as a sorry paradigm for face-saving both are now above 100 billion USDs trade that binds them with a common aim to quickly move to 500 billion. Those who trade at that level never graduate beyond sticks and clubs, even if spiked, and whatever the savagery of their brawl. It is time to smell some real leaves.

One hates to admit, but Pakistan was politically outmanoeuvred by India on Kashmir by rescinding Article 370 of its Constitution which gave a special if not disputed status to the region. Her gradual mutation of the demographics in her favour continues unabated. And as the older generation of the defying Kashmiris bows out the young view issues far less weighed by emotive persuasion. In combination with unmatched density of military presence over decades the new normal has practically established newer realities. And while Pakistan’s principled stance may just remain the same, work-around shall have to be found to factor in newer realities and graduate policy to benefit from this immense economic activity taking place in the neighbourhood. Placing artificial restraints on what can be a moment of deliverance to the rapidly impoverishing people of Pakistan is failing them with bankruptcy of thought. We are better only when stabler and economically buoyant. Time to shed the rhetoric.

India’s global footprint is remarkable. She is invited to the G7 and is a member of the G20. It is leading a movement of the global South to represent what is critical to equitable progress in the times of climate change, pandemics and technology intrusion. It has a blueprint of establishing her own domain on the foreign policy front and sticks to it assiduously. She may seem arrogant and haughty at times triggering aversion but feels she has the space to assert her presence. It is a fine line but her foreign policy apparatus treads it skillfully. Modi has brought India to the point where she has begun to cast a wider net of its influence and impact. Pakistan has been skillfully reduced to a footnote in this Indian script. It is time to smell some real leaves.

It is time to recalibrate our policy towards India and be bold enough to create a tri-nation consensus, along with China, focusing on Asia to be the spur for wider economic growth and benefit. That alone will turn geoeconomics into a strategy. Breaking away from convention and boldness in conception can address this newer paradigm. Or we may be reduced to the footnote of history.

On India | The Express Tribune

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

tribune.com.pk

 

[walterbibikow]

Russia is under American sanctions, and none can trade freely with Russia except India which buys Russian oil on preferred terms and then re-export it to help an old patron earn dollars the indirect way.

Volume of Russian crude bought and then exported by India suggests some of it may end up in European and US petrol ️ stations

India's Russian oil imports top 1 million barrels a day in December

NEW DELHI: India's import of crude oil from Russia increased further in December 2022, topping 1 million barrels per day for the first time ever as Moscow remai

www.newindianexpress.com

 

[PakFactor]

On India​

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

---

Shahzad ChaudhryJanuary 13, 2023

The writer is a political, security and defence analyst. He tweets @shazchy09 and can be contacted at shhzdchdhry@yahoo.com



If I were Henry Kissinger, I would write a treatise ‘On India’. Such has been the monumental change in India’s fortunes as a State and a player principally in Asia and broadly on the global stage. Modi may be a despised name in Pakistan, but he has done something to brand India which none before him was able to manage. Importantly, India does what it feels and to the extent she needs. And it all stays kosher. It is an ally of the US; a rub Pakistanis go to town with, complaining relentlessly about the US as its closet patron. We are delusionary and deceptive in assessing our standing and employ double-speak as an art, vilifying the US as a popular pastime while whingeing when it accosts India. Russia is under American sanctions, and none can trade freely with Russia except India which buys Russian oil on preferred terms and then re-export it to help an old patron earn dollars the indirect way. Two opposing military superpowers of the world claim India to be its ally. If this isn’t diplomatic coup, what is?

It all comes from one word — relevance. India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world. Consider. It has the fifth largest economy in the world, ahead of the UK. It is aimed to be the third largest economy in the world by 2037. It is fourth in FE Reserves with over 600 billion USDs — Pakistan currently holds 4.5 only. Its growth rate in GDP matches the best performing economies over the last three decades after China. She is projected to stay on that path. India has world’s second largest army and the third largest military. It may not be the strongest corresponding to the numbers, but it is on path to rapidly increasing its capacity and capability. The global list of billionaires has 140 Indians of which four are included in the top 100.

Mittal is steel giant. Ambanis run multiple interests varying from defence to telecom. Infosys, an IT giant, is a global name. So on and so forth. India stands amongst the top producers in agri-products and in the IT industry. Their yields per acre in agriculture match the best in the world. And despite being a country of over 1.4 billion people, it remains a relatively steady, coherent and functional polity. Their system of governance has withstood the test of time and proved its resilience around fundamentals essential to a resolute democracy. It may not be the most efficiently or most equitably run society, but it has held on to anchors which have paved the way for it to solidify what makes a nation. To many it may not be secular enough — its Constitution still is, even if attitudes of the power wielders are not. Under Modi it has crafted a religious-nationalist plank of its newer assertion and identity. Don’t balk. World over the trend is of the Right gaining eminence in social attitudes. Pakistan in this realm has its own set of challenges. Importantly, it seems to be working for Modi and India.

India jumped to a 100 billion USD reserves in 2004 from the measly 9.2 she had in 1992. Under Manmohan Singh, India increased her reserves to 252 billion USD by 2014. Under Modi these have galloped to over 600 billion and the GDP is sized over three trillion USDs. This is monumental progress which makes India a preferred destination for all investors. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s fraternal brother, announced an investment of over 72 billion USDs in India even as we beg her to invest the 7 billion promised for Pakistan. Pakistan’s iron-brother, China, pledged 10 million USD in the very latest donors conference in Geneva to help Pakistan out of its financial predicament as well as a looming bankruptcy, as did Pakistan’s favourite whipping boy, America. Somehow, both place equal premium on Pakistan’s prospects.

And though Indian writers have this propensity to overstate India’s heft and hem there should be no doubt that this century will see Asia defined by two most dominating nations in economic strength, military haughtiness and political impact — China and India. The gap between Pakistan and India is now unbridgeable. India has broken free of the shackles that kept her tied in South Asia and hyphenated in global perception with Pakistan. Beginning with Rajiv Gandhi to Modi there has been a clear distancing of the Indian foreign policy away from Pakistan. That turns India more Asia than just South Asia and a clout which is far expanded. The world has taken note and regardless how much we play China vs India as a sorry paradigm for face-saving both are now above 100 billion USDs trade that binds them with a common aim to quickly move to 500 billion. Those who trade at that level never graduate beyond sticks and clubs, even if spiked, and whatever the savagery of their brawl. It is time to smell some real leaves.

One hates to admit, but Pakistan was politically outmanoeuvred by India on Kashmir by rescinding Article 370 of its Constitution which gave a special if not disputed status to the region. Her gradual mutation of the demographics in her favour continues unabated. And as the older generation of the defying Kashmiris bows out the young view issues far less weighed by emotive persuasion. In combination with unmatched density of military presence over decades the new normal has practically established newer realities. And while Pakistan’s principled stance may just remain the same, work-around shall have to be found to factor in newer realities and graduate policy to benefit from this immense economic activity taking place in the neighbourhood. Placing artificial restraints on what can be a moment of deliverance to the rapidly impoverishing people of Pakistan is failing them with bankruptcy of thought. We are better only when stabler and economically buoyant. Time to shed the rhetoric.

India’s global footprint is remarkable. She is invited to the G7 and is a member of the G20. It is leading a movement of the global South to represent what is critical to equitable progress in the times of climate change, pandemics and technology intrusion. It has a blueprint of establishing her own domain on the foreign policy front and sticks to it assiduously. She may seem arrogant and haughty at times triggering aversion but feels she has the space to assert her presence. It is a fine line but her foreign policy apparatus treads it skillfully. Modi has brought India to the point where she has begun to cast a wider net of its influence and impact. Pakistan has been skillfully reduced to a footnote in this Indian script. It is time to smell some real leaves.

It is time to recalibrate our policy towards India and be bold enough to create a tri-nation consensus, along with China, focusing on Asia to be the spur for wider economic growth and benefit. That alone will turn geoeconomics into a strategy. Breaking away from convention and boldness in conception can address this newer paradigm. Or we may be reduced to the footnote of history.

On India | The Express Tribune

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

tribune.com.pk

A very balanced article, and it's what I've been saying all along. We overestimated our importance and did not play our cards right. The first tragic move we made, siding with one camp, brought us to this point. As this retired Air Mashall said, we decided to become a "whipping boy" but failed to establish boundaries and a working framework early on. As a result, India's foreign policy was one of balance, a Ying/Yang of sorts, and they reaped benefits from both sides.

India is too far gone to catch up economically and militarily for Pakistan. The Kashmir strategy has been a disaster, but Sheik Abdullah also bears the burden for his debacle of siding with India during the 1948-1971 conflicts we've had with India to retain his seat for Kashmir. He made deals with the devil, and people backed him, as we have people in Karachi voting for MQM, Sindi's PPP, and Punjabi's PML-N.

The list is endless, but at this point, Pakistan's future isn't within its hands but dictated from outside.

A sad state of affairs.

 

[Dr-who]

Will we able to open to open borders and trade with India? Tried by pti but backfired
Same with Israel
Our baboos have a different way of thinking be it of foreign policy/economics/censor board/religion/governance
And till then they don’t retire altogether we shall remain in this mess

 

[Sam6536]

On India​

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

---

Shahzad ChaudhryJanuary 13, 2023

The writer is a political, security and defence analyst. He tweets @shazchy09 and can be contacted at shhzdchdhry@yahoo.com



If I were Henry Kissinger, I would write a treatise ‘On India’. Such has been the monumental change in India’s fortunes as a State and a player principally in Asia and broadly on the global stage. Modi may be a despised name in Pakistan, but he has done something to brand India which none before him was able to manage. Importantly, India does what it feels and to the extent she needs. And it all stays kosher. It is an ally of the US; a rub Pakistanis go to town with, complaining relentlessly about the US as its closet patron. We are delusionary and deceptive in assessing our standing and employ double-speak as an art, vilifying the US as a popular pastime while whingeing when it accosts India. Russia is under American sanctions, and none can trade freely with Russia except India which buys Russian oil on preferred terms and then re-export it to help an old patron earn dollars the indirect way. Two opposing military superpowers of the world claim India to be its ally. If this isn’t diplomatic coup, what is?

It all comes from one word — relevance. India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world. Consider. It has the fifth largest economy in the world, ahead of the UK. It is aimed to be the third largest economy in the world by 2037. It is fourth in FE Reserves with over 600 billion USDs — Pakistan currently holds 4.5 only. Its growth rate in GDP matches the best performing economies over the last three decades after China. She is projected to stay on that path. India has world’s second largest army and the third largest military. It may not be the strongest corresponding to the numbers, but it is on path to rapidly increasing its capacity and capability. The global list of billionaires has 140 Indians of which four are included in the top 100.

Mittal is steel giant. Ambanis run multiple interests varying from defence to telecom. Infosys, an IT giant, is a global name. So on and so forth. India stands amongst the top producers in agri-products and in the IT industry. Their yields per acre in agriculture match the best in the world. And despite being a country of over 1.4 billion people, it remains a relatively steady, coherent and functional polity. Their system of governance has withstood the test of time and proved its resilience around fundamentals essential to a resolute democracy. It may not be the most efficiently or most equitably run society, but it has held on to anchors which have paved the way for it to solidify what makes a nation. To many it may not be secular enough — its Constitution still is, even if attitudes of the power wielders are not. Under Modi it has crafted a religious-nationalist plank of its newer assertion and identity. Don’t balk. World over the trend is of the Right gaining eminence in social attitudes. Pakistan in this realm has its own set of challenges. Importantly, it seems to be working for Modi and India.

India jumped to a 100 billion USD reserves in 2004 from the measly 9.2 she had in 1992. Under Manmohan Singh, India increased her reserves to 252 billion USD by 2014. Under Modi these have galloped to over 600 billion and the GDP is sized over three trillion USDs. This is monumental progress which makes India a preferred destination for all investors. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s fraternal brother, announced an investment of over 72 billion USDs in India even as we beg her to invest the 7 billion promised for Pakistan. Pakistan’s iron-brother, China, pledged 10 million USD in the very latest donors conference in Geneva to help Pakistan out of its financial predicament as well as a looming bankruptcy, as did Pakistan’s favourite whipping boy, America. Somehow, both place equal premium on Pakistan’s prospects.

And though Indian writers have this propensity to overstate India’s heft and hem there should be no doubt that this century will see Asia defined by two most dominating nations in economic strength, military haughtiness and political impact — China and India. The gap between Pakistan and India is now unbridgeable. India has broken free of the shackles that kept her tied in South Asia and hyphenated in global perception with Pakistan. Beginning with Rajiv Gandhi to Modi there has been a clear distancing of the Indian foreign policy away from Pakistan. That turns India more Asia than just South Asia and a clout which is far expanded. The world has taken note and regardless how much we play China vs India as a sorry paradigm for face-saving both are now above 100 billion USDs trade that binds them with a common aim to quickly move to 500 billion. Those who trade at that level never graduate beyond sticks and clubs, even if spiked, and whatever the savagery of their brawl. It is time to smell some real leaves.

One hates to admit, but Pakistan was politically outmanoeuvred by India on Kashmir by rescinding Article 370 of its Constitution which gave a special if not disputed status to the region. Her gradual mutation of the demographics in her favour continues unabated. And as the older generation of the defying Kashmiris bows out the young view issues far less weighed by emotive persuasion. In combination with unmatched density of military presence over decades the new normal has practically established newer realities. And while Pakistan’s principled stance may just remain the same, work-around shall have to be found to factor in newer realities and graduate policy to benefit from this immense economic activity taking place in the neighbourhood. Placing artificial restraints on what can be a moment of deliverance to the rapidly impoverishing people of Pakistan is failing them with bankruptcy of thought. We are better only when stabler and economically buoyant. Time to shed the rhetoric.

India’s global footprint is remarkable. She is invited to the G7 and is a member of the G20. It is leading a movement of the global South to represent what is critical to equitable progress in the times of climate change, pandemics and technology intrusion. It has a blueprint of establishing her own domain on the foreign policy front and sticks to it assiduously. She may seem arrogant and haughty at times triggering aversion but feels she has the space to assert her presence. It is a fine line but her foreign policy apparatus treads it skillfully. Modi has brought India to the point where she has begun to cast a wider net of its influence and impact. Pakistan has been skillfully reduced to a footnote in this Indian script. It is time to smell some real leaves.

It is time to recalibrate our policy towards India and be bold enough to create a tri-nation consensus, along with China, focusing on Asia to be the spur for wider economic growth and benefit. That alone will turn geoeconomics into a strategy. Breaking away from convention and boldness in conception can address this newer paradigm. Or we may be reduced to the footnote of history.

On India | The Express Tribune

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

tribune.com.pk

This was a really good article
Apart from jingoistic nationalism seen from both sides you rarely see rational takes.

 

[baajey]

unfortunately not everybody thinks or acts like mr. chaudhry.
we want a peaceful neighbourhood. period.

 

[teX]

Pakistan's future isn't within its hands but dictated from outside.

True, except this point.
Pakistan had a chance at few occasions to let played by others, latest example was in previous tenure of IK that was again ruined by bajwa & co

 

[Suriya]

unfortunately not everybody thinks or acts like mr. chaudhry.
we want a peaceful neighbourhood. period.

This is begrudging realisatiion and nothing else.

 

[Bilal9]

India is minting money exploiting Bangladesh to the tune of at least $50 Billion every year, Bangladesh is unofficially India's number three or four source of remittance. Add to that open attempts at economic, religious and cultural hegemony in Bangladesh to Hindu-ize Muslims and even saffronize Bangladeshi Hindus for the last fifty years. Also - India has been controlling Hasina and making sure armed services in Bangladesh do not buy anything that is a threat to Indian status quo. People in Bangladesh are very aware of this but I guess their patience is very long lasting.

If Pakistan was a beneficiary of this one-sided trade other than India and vice versa, that alone changes the equation to a large degree. And change it will. Avg. person on the street in Bangladesh are all acutely aware of how India is and has been looting Bangladesh. This will eventually also change the geo-political stance of Indians trying to reduce the two-sided defence to one.

Once realization comes, that is the first step to a change.

 

[truthseeker2010]

On India​

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

---

Shahzad ChaudhryJanuary 13, 2023

The writer is a political, security and defence analyst. He tweets @shazchy09 and can be contacted at shhzdchdhry@yahoo.com



If I were Henry Kissinger, I would write a treatise ‘On India’. Such has been the monumental change in India’s fortunes as a State and a player principally in Asia and broadly on the global stage. Modi may be a despised name in Pakistan, but he has done something to brand India which none before him was able to manage. Importantly, India does what it feels and to the extent she needs. And it all stays kosher. It is an ally of the US; a rub Pakistanis go to town with, complaining relentlessly about the US as its closet patron. We are delusionary and deceptive in assessing our standing and employ double-speak as an art, vilifying the US as a popular pastime while whingeing when it accosts India. Russia is under American sanctions, and none can trade freely with Russia except India which buys Russian oil on preferred terms and then re-export it to help an old patron earn dollars the indirect way. Two opposing military superpowers of the world claim India to be its ally. If this isn’t diplomatic coup, what is?

It all comes from one word — relevance. India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world. Consider. It has the fifth largest economy in the world, ahead of the UK. It is aimed to be the third largest economy in the world by 2037. It is fourth in FE Reserves with over 600 billion USDs — Pakistan currently holds 4.5 only. Its growth rate in GDP matches the best performing economies over the last three decades after China. She is projected to stay on that path. India has world’s second largest army and the third largest military. It may not be the strongest corresponding to the numbers, but it is on path to rapidly increasing its capacity and capability. The global list of billionaires has 140 Indians of which four are included in the top 100.

Mittal is steel giant. Ambanis run multiple interests varying from defence to telecom. Infosys, an IT giant, is a global name. So on and so forth. India stands amongst the top producers in agri-products and in the IT industry. Their yields per acre in agriculture match the best in the world. And despite being a country of over 1.4 billion people, it remains a relatively steady, coherent and functional polity. Their system of governance has withstood the test of time and proved its resilience around fundamentals essential to a resolute democracy. It may not be the most efficiently or most equitably run society, but it has held on to anchors which have paved the way for it to solidify what makes a nation. To many it may not be secular enough — its Constitution still is, even if attitudes of the power wielders are not. Under Modi it has crafted a religious-nationalist plank of its newer assertion and identity. Don’t balk. World over the trend is of the Right gaining eminence in social attitudes. Pakistan in this realm has its own set of challenges. Importantly, it seems to be working for Modi and India.

India jumped to a 100 billion USD reserves in 2004 from the measly 9.2 she had in 1992. Under Manmohan Singh, India increased her reserves to 252 billion USD by 2014. Under Modi these have galloped to over 600 billion and the GDP is sized over three trillion USDs. This is monumental progress which makes India a preferred destination for all investors. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s fraternal brother, announced an investment of over 72 billion USDs in India even as we beg her to invest the 7 billion promised for Pakistan. Pakistan’s iron-brother, China, pledged 10 million USD in the very latest donors conference in Geneva to help Pakistan out of its financial predicament as well as a looming bankruptcy, as did Pakistan’s favourite whipping boy, America. Somehow, both place equal premium on Pakistan’s prospects.

And though Indian writers have this propensity to overstate India’s heft and hem there should be no doubt that this century will see Asia defined by two most dominating nations in economic strength, military haughtiness and political impact — China and India. The gap between Pakistan and India is now unbridgeable. India has broken free of the shackles that kept her tied in South Asia and hyphenated in global perception with Pakistan. Beginning with Rajiv Gandhi to Modi there has been a clear distancing of the Indian foreign policy away from Pakistan. That turns India more Asia than just South Asia and a clout which is far expanded. The world has taken note and regardless how much we play China vs India as a sorry paradigm for face-saving both are now above 100 billion USDs trade that binds them with a common aim to quickly move to 500 billion. Those who trade at that level never graduate beyond sticks and clubs, even if spiked, and whatever the savagery of their brawl. It is time to smell some real leaves.

One hates to admit, but Pakistan was politically outmanoeuvred by India on Kashmir by rescinding Article 370 of its Constitution which gave a special if not disputed status to the region. Her gradual mutation of the demographics in her favour continues unabated. And as the older generation of the defying Kashmiris bows out the young view issues far less weighed by emotive persuasion. In combination with unmatched density of military presence over decades the new normal has practically established newer realities. And while Pakistan’s principled stance may just remain the same, work-around shall have to be found to factor in newer realities and graduate policy to benefit from this immense economic activity taking place in the neighbourhood. Placing artificial restraints on what can be a moment of deliverance to the rapidly impoverishing people of Pakistan is failing them with bankruptcy of thought. We are better only when stabler and economically buoyant. Time to shed the rhetoric.

India’s global footprint is remarkable. She is invited to the G7 and is a member of the G20. It is leading a movement of the global South to represent what is critical to equitable progress in the times of climate change, pandemics and technology intrusion. It has a blueprint of establishing her own domain on the foreign policy front and sticks to it assiduously. She may seem arrogant and haughty at times triggering aversion but feels she has the space to assert her presence. It is a fine line but her foreign policy apparatus treads it skillfully. Modi has brought India to the point where she has begun to cast a wider net of its influence and impact. Pakistan has been skillfully reduced to a footnote in this Indian script. It is time to smell some real leaves.

It is time to recalibrate our policy towards India and be bold enough to create a tri-nation consensus, along with China, focusing on Asia to be the spur for wider economic growth and benefit. That alone will turn geoeconomics into a strategy. Breaking away from convention and boldness in conception can address this newer paradigm. Or we may be reduced to the footnote of history.

On India | The Express Tribune

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

tribune.com.pk

The actual reality as compared to fan Bois of **** military be it the politicians, beaurocracy or anyone else.......

 

[Faceless]

On India​

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

---

Shahzad ChaudhryJanuary 13, 2023

The writer is a political, security and defence analyst. He tweets @shazchy09 and can be contacted at shhzdchdhry@yahoo.com



If I were Henry Kissinger, I would write a treatise ‘On India’. Such has been the monumental change in India’s fortunes as a State and a player principally in Asia and broadly on the global stage. Modi may be a despised name in Pakistan, but he has done something to brand India which none before him was able to manage. Importantly, India does what it feels and to the extent she needs. And it all stays kosher. It is an ally of the US; a rub Pakistanis go to town with, complaining relentlessly about the US as its closet patron. We are delusionary and deceptive in assessing our standing and employ double-speak as an art, vilifying the US as a popular pastime while whingeing when it accosts India. Russia is under American sanctions, and none can trade freely with Russia except India which buys Russian oil on preferred terms and then re-export it to help an old patron earn dollars the indirect way. Two opposing military superpowers of the world claim India to be its ally. If this isn’t diplomatic coup, what is?

It all comes from one word — relevance. India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world. Consider. It has the fifth largest economy in the world, ahead of the UK. It is aimed to be the third largest economy in the world by 2037. It is fourth in FE Reserves with over 600 billion USDs — Pakistan currently holds 4.5 only. Its growth rate in GDP matches the best performing economies over the last three decades after China. She is projected to stay on that path. India has world’s second largest army and the third largest military. It may not be the strongest corresponding to the numbers, but it is on path to rapidly increasing its capacity and capability. The global list of billionaires has 140 Indians of which four are included in the top 100.

Mittal is steel giant. Ambanis run multiple interests varying from defence to telecom. Infosys, an IT giant, is a global name. So on and so forth. India stands amongst the top producers in agri-products and in the IT industry. Their yields per acre in agriculture match the best in the world. And despite being a country of over 1.4 billion people, it remains a relatively steady, coherent and functional polity. Their system of governance has withstood the test of time and proved its resilience around fundamentals essential to a resolute democracy. It may not be the most efficiently or most equitably run society, but it has held on to anchors which have paved the way for it to solidify what makes a nation. To many it may not be secular enough — its Constitution still is, even if attitudes of the power wielders are not. Under Modi it has crafted a religious-nationalist plank of its newer assertion and identity. Don’t balk. World over the trend is of the Right gaining eminence in social attitudes. Pakistan in this realm has its own set of challenges. Importantly, it seems to be working for Modi and India.

India jumped to a 100 billion USD reserves in 2004 from the measly 9.2 she had in 1992. Under Manmohan Singh, India increased her reserves to 252 billion USD by 2014. Under Modi these have galloped to over 600 billion and the GDP is sized over three trillion USDs. This is monumental progress which makes India a preferred destination for all investors. Saudi Arabia, Pakistan’s fraternal brother, announced an investment of over 72 billion USDs in India even as we beg her to invest the 7 billion promised for Pakistan. Pakistan’s iron-brother, China, pledged 10 million USD in the very latest donors conference in Geneva to help Pakistan out of its financial predicament as well as a looming bankruptcy, as did Pakistan’s favourite whipping boy, America. Somehow, both place equal premium on Pakistan’s prospects.

And though Indian writers have this propensity to overstate India’s heft and hem there should be no doubt that this century will see Asia defined by two most dominating nations in economic strength, military haughtiness and political impact — China and India. The gap between Pakistan and India is now unbridgeable. India has broken free of the shackles that kept her tied in South Asia and hyphenated in global perception with Pakistan. Beginning with Rajiv Gandhi to Modi there has been a clear distancing of the Indian foreign policy away from Pakistan. That turns India more Asia than just South Asia and a clout which is far expanded. The world has taken note and regardless how much we play China vs India as a sorry paradigm for face-saving both are now above 100 billion USDs trade that binds them with a common aim to quickly move to 500 billion. Those who trade at that level never graduate beyond sticks and clubs, even if spiked, and whatever the savagery of their brawl. It is time to smell some real leaves.

One hates to admit, but Pakistan was politically outmanoeuvred by India on Kashmir by rescinding Article 370 of its Constitution which gave a special if not disputed status to the region. Her gradual mutation of the demographics in her favour continues unabated. And as the older generation of the defying Kashmiris bows out the young view issues far less weighed by emotive persuasion. In combination with unmatched density of military presence over decades the new normal has practically established newer realities. And while Pakistan’s principled stance may just remain the same, work-around shall have to be found to factor in newer realities and graduate policy to benefit from this immense economic activity taking place in the neighbourhood. Placing artificial restraints on what can be a moment of deliverance to the rapidly impoverishing people of Pakistan is failing them with bankruptcy of thought. We are better only when stabler and economically buoyant. Time to shed the rhetoric.

India’s global footprint is remarkable. She is invited to the G7 and is a member of the G20. It is leading a movement of the global South to represent what is critical to equitable progress in the times of climate change, pandemics and technology intrusion. It has a blueprint of establishing her own domain on the foreign policy front and sticks to it assiduously. She may seem arrogant and haughty at times triggering aversion but feels she has the space to assert her presence. It is a fine line but her foreign policy apparatus treads it skillfully. Modi has brought India to the point where she has begun to cast a wider net of its influence and impact. Pakistan has been skillfully reduced to a footnote in this Indian script. It is time to smell some real leaves.

It is time to recalibrate our policy towards India and be bold enough to create a tri-nation consensus, along with China, focusing on Asia to be the spur for wider economic growth and benefit. That alone will turn geoeconomics into a strategy. Breaking away from convention and boldness in conception can address this newer paradigm. Or we may be reduced to the footnote of history.

On India | The Express Tribune

India is relevant to the world, not only in its size and girth but by its footprint and what matters to the world

tribune.com.pk

nearly everything he said is correct but from an indian's point of view we have achieved far less than what we could have, indian population at its core is very socialist and wants everything to be handed over them by the government (the craze for sarkari naukri and the effectiveness of freebies in both north and south indian politics).
While its true indian economy is booming, it is doing so in a haphazardous way, our agricultural sector is fragmented and primitive with no global FMCG compay based out of india, our agricultral lands are fragmented with little to no scope for industrial farming and it employees far more people than it needs with very low productivitiy levels.
we missied the asian manufacturing boom (SEA and china managed to catch that train), we flaunt about our massive it sector but most of our IT sector employees are coding monkeys who work paycheck to paycheck for their western employers with nothing orignal to show for themselves (we are the seat shop workers of the IT industry).
Modi realised the importence of the manufactring sector and how its necessary for pulling people out of the farming sector which in turn pave the way for industrial farming and FMCG companies but industrial sector requires a lot of investment and he failed in bringinging that much needed investment by not improving infrastructure in time, failing to reduce corruption and not provinding an overall favourable enviroment.
It was only after the lauch of startup india and simplification of tax and labour laws that our IT industry started moving from IT sweat shops to consumer market and saw an explosive rise in number of unicorns, but just like our manufacturing sector our IT sector too was affected by the lack of much needed investement due to similar regions.
But one thing that can be said for sure is India is growing and its growing fast regardless of the challenges it faces and it remains to be seen for how long can we maintain this pace.

 

[FuturePAF]

A very balanced article, and it's what I've been saying all along. We overestimated our importance and did not play our cards right. The first tragic move we made, siding with one camp, brought us to this point. As this retired Air Mashall said, we decided to become a "whipping boy" but failed to establish boundaries and a working framework early on. As a result, India's foreign policy was one of balance, a Ying/Yang of sorts, and they reaped benefits from both sides.

India is too far gone to catch up economically and militarily for Pakistan. The Kashmir strategy has been a disaster, but Sheik Abdullah also bears the burden for his debacle of siding with India during the 1948-1971 conflicts we've had with India to retain his seat for Kashmir. He made deals with the devil, and people backed him, as we have people in Karachi voting for MQM, Sindi's PPP, and Punjabi's PML-N.

The list is endless, but at this point, Pakistan's future isn't within its hands but dictated from outside.

A sad state of affairs.

Pakistan isn’t so far gone that it can’t catch up, but it will take decades.

Not absolute parity but on a per capita basis it can catch up, but it would require complete reorientation of society, and now, in 2023, is the time to choose whether we go down that path or not.

We have a population 1/6 theirs, soon to be 1/5 by mid-century and 1/4 a generation after that.

1. We should start by catching and surpassing them in agriculture on a per acre basis. Efficient water management can support modern agriculture on our current farm land, increase the amount of farm land, and have enough extra water for all our citizens and our industrial processes. Next is mining. Do we have a complete map of our potential mining resources with the latest technology? There maybe resources under our feet which can draw investment and become an industry to help us be competitive. Finally, with extra-regional influence over in Afghanistan, and the afghans in need of new revenue streams, we should make sure our trade links with Central Asia get build (such as the rail links) ASAP. A Pakistan that has access to Central Asia can be a conduit for western and Gulf investors (as they wouldn’t want to go via Russia, Iran or China), as well as a rail link for a percentage of Chinese trade towards the Middle East and Africa.

As for international relations, we have to be balanced, but especially in good graces with the west. We should study the example of Indonesia over the last 25 years. They had a similar political situation to ours, and went from a $92 Billion economy in 1998 to a $1.18 trillion in 2022. Sure they have resources, but just like with Reko-Diq, we won’t know what resources we have until we open up and bring in investor to look.

So, we can start this year by using some of the $10 billion in loans offered to combat the floods by building at least the Sindh and Baluchistan portion of the “Pakistan Flood Control System”. Starting downstream first will prevent another year of this kind of devastation and store the water for agriculture and the drinking need of the people as well as industry in Karachi. As we get more money, through taxes, we can move north.

We can also start by having the elections, appealing the 18th amendment, and fixing our finances. I don’t agree with cutting the defense budget, when India is increasing theirs to 80 Billion, but we can freeze it in dollar terms, to maintain our capabilities. As soon as the economy gets back on track in a sustainable manner, the defense budget can be increased in proportion to the GDP growth, to keep up with the threats.

 

[Skull and Bones]

Pakistan isn’t so far gone that it can’t catch up, but it will take decades.

Not absolute parity but on a per capita basis it can catch up, but it would require complete reorientation of society, and now, in 2023, is the time to choose whether we go down that path or not.

We have a population 1/6 theirs, soon to be 1/5 by mid-century and 1/4 a generation after that.

1. We should start by catching and surpassing them in agriculture on a per acre basis. Efficient water management can support modern agriculture on our current farm land, increase the amount of farm land, and have enough extra water for all our citizens and our industrial processes. Next is mining. Do we have a complete map of our potential mining resources with the latest technology? There maybe resources under our feet which can draw investment and become an industry to help us be competitive. Finally, with extra-regional influence over in Afghanistan, and the afghans in need of new revenue streams, we should make sure our trade links with Central Asia get build (such as the rail links) ASAP. A Pakistan that has access to Central Asia can be a conduit for western and Gulf investors (as they wouldn’t want to go via Russia, Iran or China), as well as a rail link for a percentage of Chinese trade towards the Middle East and Africa.

As for international relations, we have to be balanced, but especially in good graces with the west. We should study the example of Indonesia over the last 25 years. They had a similar political situation to ours, and went from a $92 Billion economy in 1998 to a $1.18 trillion in 2022. Sure they have resources, but just like with Reko-Diq, we won’t know what resources we have until we open up and bring in investor to look.

So, we can start this year by using some of the $10 billion in loans offered to combat the floods by building at least the Sindh and Baluchistan portion of the “Pakistan Flood Control System”. Starting downstream first will prevent another year of this kind of devastation and store the water for agriculture and the drinking need of the people as well as industry in Karachi. As we get more money, through taxes, we can move north.

We can also start by having the elections, appealing the 18th amendment, and fixing our finances. I don’t agree with cutting the defense budget, when India is increasing theirs to 80 Billion, but we can freeze it in dollar terms, to maintain our capabilities. As soon as the economy gets back on track in a sustainable manner, the defense budget can be increased in proportion to the GDP growth, to keep up with the threats.

Once you fall in debt cycle, it will take couple of decades just to recycle old debts with newer debts, while development, industrialization, public food and health security will take a back seat.

India is minting money exploiting Bangladesh to the tune of at least $50 Billion every year, Bangladesh is unofficially India's number three or four source of remittance. Add to that open attempts at economic, religious and cultural hegemony in Bangladesh to Hindu-ize Muslims and even saffronize Bangladeshi Hindus for the last fifty years. Also - India has been controlling Hasina and making sure armed services in Bangladesh do not buy anything that is a threat to Indian status quo. People in Bangladesh are very aware of this but I guess their patience is very long lasting.

If Pakistan was a beneficiary of this one-sided trade other than India and vice versa, that alone changes the equation to a large degree. And change it will. Avg. person on the street in Bangladesh are all acutely aware of how India is and has been looting Bangladesh. This will eventually also change the geo-political stance of Indians trying to reduce the two-sided defence to one.

Once realization comes, that is the first step to a change.

We haven't started taking land territories yet, that should be next in line. We should acquire some Bangladeshi land and strengthen our vulnerable Siliguri corridor.

 

[sparten]

Self loathing is no analysis,

 

[SIPRA]

Pakistan has no place in the world, because it has been thoroughly screwed by it's Generals and criminal political mafia.