Bhutto also focused on the shared interests in the region against terrorism and religious extremism. “When there are militant camps and Taliban is regrouping in Pakistan, it not only has consequences for India and Afghanistan... but also for the people of Pakistan”.

“We the people of Pakistan have a stake in dismantling the militant groups and eliminating the Taliban from the tribal areas of Pakistan so that our people can be safe from suicide bombers. (We) cannot be held hostage by militant groups who can, for example, strike India in the Parliament and bring the two countries to war”.

For India, however, it is not a question of choosing between Musharraf and Bhutto. India has no reason to personalise the current troubles in Pakistan. It should be focused on positive political outcomes across the western border.

Bhutto is of interest to India because she is trying to address the twin crises in Pakistan from a liberal platform. One crisis, on this side of the Indus river in Pakistan, being highlighted by the black coats in Lahore, Islamabad, and Karachi is about the fading legitimacy of the army rule. Pakistan’s other crisis, in the trans-Indus territories, is the loss of state control to Islamic militancy. The pitched battles these days between the army and the militants in Waziristan tells only a part of the story. The militants are challenging the writ of the Pakistani state, not just in the tribal areas but also in the settled areas of North Western Frontier Province.

... contd.