Rice’s options

Rice is no stranger to South Asian crises. When terrorists attacked the Indian parliament in December 2001, Rice was the national security adviser to President Bush and was instrumental in pressing Pakistan to ban Lashkar e Toiba and other anti-India terror groups operating in Pakistan. To defuse the Indo-Pak military confrontation in 2001-02, Rice got Musharraf to promise that he will put a permanent end to cross-border terrorism.

This time she will have to do a lot more. Dr. Singh has already heard many positive words from Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari about cracking down on anti-India terror groups. If Zardari can’t match his words with deeds, Manmohan Singh will have to make good of his threat to extract a cost from Pakistan for the attacks.

Before her arrival in New Delhi, Rice demanded that people responsible “must be brought to justice”. Having named names in a demarche to Pakistan on Monday, India’s fingers are crossed. The big question is whether Rice has something credible to offer, in terms of concrete Pakistani actions.

Hillary innuendo

While the Indian American community is pleased that Obama has nominated Hillary Clinton as his secretary of state, sections of the American media have begun to question her potential objectivity in managing the Indo-Pak crisis.

Within a day of her nomination as America’s top diplomat, the US news agency AP ran a story casting doubt over Hillary’s credentials. Quoting unnamed diplomats in Washington, AP said, “Clinton’s close ties with India forged during her years as a US senator and presidential candidate could complicate diplomatic perceptions of her ability to serve as a neutral broker between India and its nuclear neighbour, Pakistan.”

... contd.