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Thursday, July 1, 1999
Periscope on pakistan
We should step back from the brink NEWS: Once military deployments get underway, the risk of inadvertent escalation becomes exceedingly high. Where eyeball-to-eyeball confrontation occurs between military forces amid belligerent talk, the situation comes perilously close to a major eruption. This must be avoided at all costs. A wider conflict is in neither country's interest. It is not in the interest of the region, already beset by so many other pressing problems, even crisis. A prolonged `limited war' also holds out great peril in a nuclearised environment. Statesmanship demands immediate action to step back from the brink. The consequences of going over this dangerous precipice are too calamitous to be even contemplated.People won't forgive a mad rush into war FRONTIER POST: Though war-related frenzy is on the rise in both countries, with electronic media contributing to the atmosphere of tension in no small measure, we are confident that the general people oneither side are not in favour of war. People are now much too aware to forgive a mad rush into a war.It is a pity that people on both sides of the border are helpless; they have very little say over what is now happening on the borders. Their anxiety that another Indo-Pak war is around the corner seems almost unbearable. And, for the first time, nobody outside the realm of power wants war. It is time to de-escalate. Kashmir internationalised, no gains NEWS: Notwithstanding strident official claims of having internationalised the Kashmir issue, the question really is whether this has been internationalised in Pakistan's favour. If the answer is no, in the face of apparent erosion of diplomatic support for Islamabad's position, then surely there is an urgent need to evolve a diplomatic strategy that can alter the kind of perceptions that are taking hold amongst the world community. Running selective excerpts of world opinion in our own media is no substitute for such a strategy. It isinstead a sure recipe for self-delusion. It is preaching to the unconverted or the wavering that must be central to our diplomatic strategy, not convincing ourselves.Copyright © 1999 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
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