Then when the evidence became overwhelming and increasingly evident that it was serving army officers on the telephone to the terrorists in Mumbai guiding their every move the denials became louder and more hysterical. Finally, due to pressure from Washington, there was reluctant acknowledgement that there could be Pakistanis involved.

With Swat now in the hands of the Taliban, things have got much worse in Pakistan but the terrorism that country faces has to do with its own policies. The Pakistani army’s links with jihadi groups is so deep and complex that it is sometimes hard to separate the two. This is directly because of the policies of General Pervez Musharraf who fooled the American government into believing that he was their best ally in the war on terrorism.

It is vital that India not allow a democratic government in Pakistan to succeed in fooling the Americans again. But, what can we do when the Government of India is in suspended animation? If there is one lesson that can be learned from this very long drawn out campaign it is that we must not allow such a long election again.

The stated reason for the Election Commission to stretch the election out was security. They feared attacks from jihadi terrorists and Naxalites so not only did we have to stretch the election out we even had to drive away the IPL. How ironic that this very long election has served mostly to enhance the threat to national security and not reduce it.