Saudi Ministry of Education to showcase innovations at 2025 Geneva International Exhibition    7,523 violators of residency, labor, and border security laws deported in a week    Video contradicts Israeli army account of deadly March 23 strike on Gaza paramedics    Saudi Arabia spends over $241 million to implement de-mining projects in 3 countries    Italy's Meloni government approves controversial security decree expanding police protections and penalties    Egypt submits new Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange proposal: Report    'Everything is possible' — Ronaldo focused on titles, not 1,000-goal milestone after Riyadh Derby win    Saudi, US military leaders discuss enhanced defense cooperation in Riyadh    King Salman Global Academy for Arabic Language launches program with Indiana University    Ronaldo brace powers Al Nassr past Al Hilal in Riyadh derby thriller    Ed Sheeran weaves Persian music into new song, Azizam    Al-Jadaan: Crown Prince's directives confirm government's ability to bring back balance to real estate market    Veteran Bollywood actor Manoj Kumar dies at 87    Foreign investors are allowed to engage in real estate business outside Makkah and Madinah Commercial speculation should not be the purpose of real estate transaction    Aubameyang fires Al Qadsiah into King's Cup final with stoppage-time winner over Al Raed    Musk's X is suing India, as Tesla and Starlink plan entry    Tesla sales plunge after backlash against Elon Musk    Danilo Pereira fires Al Ittihad into King's Cup final with dramatic stoppage-time double    Screen time in bed linked to insomnia, study finds    Mexico bans junk food in schools to fight childhood obesity epidemic    Sweet sales surge ahead of Eid as Saudi chocolate imports top 123 million kg in 2024    Bollywood actress vindicated over boyfriend's death after media hounding    Grand Mufti rules against posting prayers and preaching in mosques on social media    King Salman prays for peace and stability for Palestinians in Ramadan message King reaffirms Saudi Arabia's commitment to serving the Two Holy Mosques and pilgrims    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



The risk of shaking hands on wobbly legs
Published in The Saudi Gazette on 27 - 10 - 2013


M. J. AKBAR
If Barack Obama can blindside Israel on Iran, there is no reason why he should lose any sleep over India as he gifts strategic and financial rewards to Pakistan for ensuring safe passage to American troops exiting Afghanistan.
In September, Obama gave Dr. Manmohan Singh a nice smile over a farewell meal. In October, Obama's menu for Nawaz Sharif could give Delhi serious indigestion: affirmation of strategic stability in South Asia, which equates Pakistan's nuclear military capability with India's, and could even lead to a nuclear deal with Islamabad if all goes well.
Dr. Singh described Pakistan as the “epicenter of terrorism” during his America visit. Obama didn't hear that. Instead, he and Sharif, in their joint statement, told India to grow up and discuss Kashmir.
It is coincidental that I got a copy of Jaswant Singh's perceptive and persuasive new book, India at Risk: Mistakes, Misconceptions and Misadventures of Security Policy, in the same week that Nawaz Sharif was in Washington, and Dr. Singh in Beijing after stepping on a toe or two in Moscow.
Jaswant Singh, an officer and a gentleman, rarely loses his aim once his finger is on the trigger. India is at risk because it never developed a strategic culture. The mould was set by Jawaharlal Nehru, who fashioned policy out of a set of high-minded ideas that stopped short of becoming an ideology. He spurned reality when it interfered with his good intentions.
He supported the creation of Pakistan only because he believed it would bring peace to the subcontinent. When, within weeks of independence, Pakistan launched an unprovoked war for Kashmir, his policies became schizophrenic. He prevented the Indian Army from completing its war objectives because he thought peace was a better idea.
Instead of letting Indian soldiers march to Muzaffarabad, and the Kashmiri gate of Pakistan, he turned to the United Nations and a ceasefire that still bleeds India.
The China story was more nuanced but equally damaging. Nehru abandoned Tibet in the hope that China would follow him into non-alignment, and confirm his status as peace messiah.
When Mao Zedong's China annexed Tibet in 1950 Nehru advised his ambassador in Beijing, K.M. Panikkar, that “India valued greatly relations with the People's Republic.” Panikkar took the hint. Even the foreign ministry in Delhi thought he was kowtowing to China too often.
Sardar Patel, whose pragmatic realism enabled him to see the future more clearly, protested in a long letter. Patel described a telegram sent by Beijing as “an act of gross discourtesy not only in the summary way it disposes of our protest against the entry of Chinese forces into Tibet but also in the wild insinuation that our attitude is determined by foreign influences. It looks as though it is not a friend speaking in that language but a potential enemy”. But instead of a potential enemy, Nehru saw a present friend who could be patronized. The visionary in Nehru must have died a thousand deaths when, after the 1962 defeat in the Himalayas, he was forced to beg for American arms on American conditions (which included, as Obama knows all too well, the demand that India thin out its forces on the Pakistan frontier and resolve the Kashmir dispute).
We all desire peace. Only the insane want war. But peace demands strength.
Independent India abandoned the British policy of surplus military capacity; Pakistan and China recognized its merits. Pakistan today has a far stronger arsenal of tactical nuclear weapons (which can be deployed on a battlefield, but which also become more vulnerable to terrorist heist) than India. China is building capability to match America in the Pacific.
Until 1962, India virtually dismissed the armed forces as a luxury for a poor nation. Since then, recovery has been in fits and starts.
Strategic links between India, Pakistan, China, Russia and US have neither been static, nor driven on straight lines, for six decades.

The big question at all times is obvious: Which country is the weak link? The strategic narrative is not a morality tale.
Dualism is not deceit; every nation checks the strength of any relationship to see if it can be recalibrated.
Modern India has developed this peculiar gene which emasculates the Indian state in pursuit of some higher cause.
Dr. Singh has spent a decade offering peace to Islamabad. But you cannot shake hands on wobbly legs. The real world shrugs and makes other arrangements.
– M. J. Akbar is an eminent Indian journalist. Write to him at: [email protected]


Clic here to read the story from its source.