Initial steps taken by the Pakistani government in this matter are very encouraging.  But the real intent will be revealed by the type of punishment accorded to the culprits.  However, this writer has his own apprehension after reading Mr. Sartaz Aziz's comment to the effect that Mr. Azhar has been arrested along with others and he will be punished if proof 'beyond doubts' are found. the word 'if' is very critical and provides lot of leeway to the Pakistani government to punish or not to punish Mr. Azhar.  Pakistani establishment has used this leeway in the past in case of Mr. Lakhvi and Mr. Sayeed who orchestrated 26/11 attack in Mumbai.  That case is still hanging in the air without any positive outcome satisfactory to the Indian government.  Pakistani government, as per press reports, has shut down the madrassaes run by JeM.  Their action raises one very important question in my mind.  When the Pakistani government knows the anti-Indian activities of this organization, why do they have to wait for some tragedy to take place fist before these madrassaes are shut down.  There are many other madrassaes run by other non-state actors in Pakistan, why does not the Pakistani government shut them down too now.  Saudi Arabia is financing these madrassaes to proliferate their version of Islam - Wahhabism, along with a cash flow for the Pakistani exchequer.  Is it the reason that Pakistani government does not want to shut down these seminaries and upset its cash-cow?  Anyhow, what ever the reason may be, Pakistan is equally responsible for helping terrorism flourish in the world because these martyrs originate from Pakistan.  In my opinion, the Indian government ought not to arrange any meetings with Pakistan unless a satisfactory punishment is accorded to the culprits involved in the Pathankot case

There is one problem with the approach you wrote in the last line. This gives the fanatics a chance to start nuclear war without getting hold of actual nuclear weapons. Let's say we told them if one more strike happens it will be all out war. whether we do it behind the curtains or publicly have little bearing on the outcome. It is an established fact that Pak army do not have full control over the fanatic elements. It is an established fact that our security establishment is not capable to pre-emptively stop the attacks. So when the next attack comes the Indian govt have only one option of war left to them irrespective of the fact that we are sure it was done by pak establishment or it was a rogue attack. The ensuing war will go nuclear in first week if NATO, China and Russia are not able to force both the the countries down.
In case of nuclear Armageddon lets assume we kill 100% of Pak population and they are able to kill just 10% of ours. The outcome is our economy is devastated and the we become target of global Islamic fanatics. The problem of terrorism instead of being solved increases manifold for us.
In case we are forced to stop the war by 3rd parties, we end up failing our objective of starting the war,moreover the fanatics in Pak get the ammo to swell their ranks. So we end up increasing the threat of terrorism with lot of Indians dead and we end up under the heels of either NATO or China as a tool in their rivalry.
Hope now you understand why the successive govt even with vastly diff ideology (Cong vs BJP) end up doing the same things w.r.t. Pak. The only option at the moment to solve our problem is peace between the population of two nations

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dharambahl one_out_of_billion • 2 hours ago

No one is saying that peace is not desired and the only way to have peace between these two countries is through negotiation. Unfortunately, these negotiations have been going on for the last 66 years without any positive and concrete results. As far as people being killed, both countries are suffering due to violation and counter violation on the LoC - Kashmir being a major political issue hanging in the air. Per my opinion, there are three options open to India to solve Kashmir problem; One being, accept LoC as the boundary between India and Pakistan; secondly, a status quo and keep fighting via often skirmishes on the LoC and the third one is all out war and winner takes all. You have a very valid point about the destruction through the usage of N-bombs. India has a declared policy of not using 'first' the nuclear arsenal. However, if Pakistan uses it out of frustration, Pakistan will be wiped off the map. I am not saying India will not face destruction of property and human lives. But at least it will suffer just once and then there will be a peace, no doubt at an extremely higher cost. Other than the above cited three options, I do not see any solution to the Kashmir issue, not at least in the foreseeable future. Do you?

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As it seems right now, it is difficult to very whether Mr. Azhar has been detained by the Pakistani authorities or not.  It depends who you ask.  Pakistani authorities and its press are confirming that he is detained, but if you ask the Indian press and the Indian government officials,there seems to be some apprehension in this matter. I am sure this riddle will have its answer pretty soon.  Giving Pakistan a benefit of doubt, let us assume that he is detained.  Then, it is definitely a positive step - a step in the right direction to improve relationship between India and Pakistan.  But in the eyes of this writer, just arresting him along with his colleagues who were involved in the Pathankot attack is not enough.  The sincerity of Pakistan government will be revealed on the type of punishment given to this group, especially to Mr. Azhar.  This is not the only crime Mr. Azhar has orchestrated against India.  He has a history of crimes where he was instrumental in harming India vis-a-vis attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001 and also his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attack.  In fact, he should be handed over to the Indian government  so that he can face an appropriate legal music in India.  Till Pakistan's final action and judgement do not surface openly, India ought not to be satisfied, and also India should make it clear to Pakistan now that this was the third strike.  No more strikes will be tolerated by India, and if it happens, there will be an open all out war.

The back and forth decision on the part of US government whether to deliver F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan or not is becoming a headache.  This writer fails to understand this indecisiveness.  The US government should know that whatever aid Pakistan receives whether it is in the form of military aid or financial aid, it is always used against India and not for the purpose it is obtained which is to fight terrorism.  This has been proven many times, and in fact, the previous President Mr. Musharraf had categorically made a statement to this effect that he had diverted this aid to fight against India during a Kargil war in 1999.  Also, it is very well known to the WH that the Taliban group supported by Pakistan is responsible for killing US soldiers in Afghanistan. Thirdly, if US really wants to develop strategic relationship with India to counter China in that part of the world, then supply of F-16s to Pakistan will be a counter productive move towards achieving that objective.  This will push India towards Europe or Russia more for maintaining military balance in that region.  Is that the US government looking for?  The whole world knows that Pakistan is not serious in eradicating terror from its soil.  They help their proxy militants to keep this terror menace simmering against India.  The latest attack on the Indian Air Base in Pathankot, Punjab is a live example among many others similar ones in the past.  In my opinion, the US Congress should not even entertain this request till Pakistan proves its seriousness to eradicate terrorism from its soil and stop abetting, financing and training these non-state actors in Pakistan.  Also, those who have been proven to be involved in the previous terror activities should be brought to justice.

What Nawaz Sharif has done is a window dressing.  By handing over the case to the IB Chief, he has done his job to satisfy New Delhi.  Now it is up to the IB Chief when and how he announces his decision.  I am very apprehensive about the whole thing.  Like previous such incidents, nothing concrete is going to come out from this investigation also.  As a matter of fact, New Delhi ought not to wait for any satisfactory outcome and start contemplating a counter attack whether it should be in Balochistan, Sindh or KP Provinces or all at the same time.  It is a given fact that Pakistan as a nation is a failed nation and the military wants to have a war with India to divert the attention of Pakistani nationals from the failures of government in Islamabad.  Also,since there is a big friction between the Pakistani military and the civilian government in Islamabad, the expected war with India will provide Pakistani military an opportunity to throw the civilian government out and establish a military government in Pakistan.  Suffering in the hands of Pakistan with its nefarious activities like in Pathankot and other places is not the solution.  The solution is to have an all out war with Pakistan to settle the score once and for all.

There is no question that no religion teaches cruelty, inhumane behavior and treatment to any creature created by Almighty God.  Islam is also a religion which promotes peace, equality, love and tranquility in the society.  As the article very rightly stated that it is the Muslim community which by creating its own version of Islam forces the society to go against the teachings of Islam.  So it is the society or so called representatives of Allah - the Mullahs with no spiritual knowledge of Islam - who needed to be condemned.  If Muslim women feel suffocated in their surrounding environment in the hands of Muslim male sect of society, it is their own doing.  They ought to stand up and challenge this ill and unequal treatment from the male community.  In the opinion of this writer, the main culprit to flourish this contorted and convoluted version of Islam is Saudi Arabia.  They are spending tons of petro dollars to set up madrasses worldwide to preach their version of Islam called Wahhabism.  Under Wahhabism, female are second class creatures ( in their mind), have no fundamental rights to drive, to walk alone, to get educated, have no legal protection even if they are raped etc.  Is that a society one wants to live in.  Should contorted version of religion take precedence over fundamental rights of a human being?  Definitely not.  So, the Muslim women have a choice either to stand up and challenge the Mullahs who force them to follow a contorted version of Islam or change their religion.  There are so many religions which provide equal rights to the female community and also preach peace, love and affection for others.  If not, then this suffering will go on and they should not complain, just live with it. Muslim women have a choice to make.

Attack on the Indian Air Base in Pathankot is another example of nefarious activity of Pakistani nexus of Military/ISI to derail a peaceful movement initiated by Mr. Modi by paying a surprise visit to Mr. Nawaz Sharif in Lahore last month. Of course, this is not the first time it happened.  Whenever the representatives of India and Pakistani government met to forge friendly relationship, the above nexus had a 'so called plan B' ready to derail that initiative.  Like in the past similar instances, India has provided proofs to the Pakistani government showing the link of this attack with the non-state  militant outfits - JeM.  Without wasting any time, JeM has claimed the responsibility of this attack.  Pakistan government has also condemned this attack - even though in my opinion, it is just a hogwash.  Civilian government in Pakistan has no authority to talk about any security issues.  It is in the hands of Pakistani military establishment.  So, any positive/negative response from the civilian government on security issue does not mean anything.  I am wondering if India really expects any action against the handlers of this attack in Pakistan especially when their military Chief has told Mr. Nawaz Sharif that no action will be taken by the military against these non-state actors whom Pakistani military/ISI uses as a primary asset against India.  So what is the purpose of providing all kinds of proofs and waiting that some positive action will be taken by the Pakistani government against the perpetrators.  The only way to teach Pakistan an appropriate lesson is to help people in Balochistan, Sindh and KP Provinces- armed them to the teeth and provoke them to revolt against Pakistani military - from all sides at the same time.

Mr. Modi's visit to Lahore is not the first gesture from India to improve relations between India and Pakistan. India has been extending an olive branch since 1947, but that effort has not resulted in any fruitful outcome due to lack of a positive response from the Pakistani government. First of all, this writer has his own apprehension to say that this may not be a sudden visit. These types of visits are never sudden. It seems to me a very well thought out and covert plan. Anyhow, irrespective of its nature, I am not sure if it is going to help improve relations in any different manner. The reason being that it is the military of Pakistan which controls the Security and Foreign Affairs Portfolios. It is the military that has the final authority to say yes or no in this respect. I am not sure if military's approval was taken before letting Mr. Modi come to Lahore to show this friendly gesture. In general, the relations between India and Pakistan cann't improve unless the Military Chief is also involved in the discussion. What I have noticed is that all summit meetings are held among elected civilian representatives of both the governments. None of the times there was a Pakistani military Chief approving, disapproving or even had an opportunity to express his opinion in this respect. So, how can one expect any positive outcome before taking an opinion of the deciding authority? This is just going to be one of the past many gestures to pacify public on both sides of the border.