Waiting for a white butcher

It was Nov 26, 2008. In Cuttak team Indian was playing ODI against England and most of us were watching the same at home while in Mumbai a different kind of game was just starting. It was a brutal, barbaric and bloody game.

A group of 10 heavily armed ‘terrorists’ entered the financial capital of the country and created havoc for 3 days. They exposed various loopholes in Indian security and crisis management system and a lot has been written, talked and lamented about it.

It is January 30, 2009. More than 2 months have passed since then. Pakistan has already denied that it’s territory was used for planning the attack and we have already shown signs of going to UN again begging for some sanctions on the individuals believed to be members of the team. We went to UN in 1947 despite army suggestions and in return we got LOC where as we could have had an international border.

No doubt that the things have changed a lot in last 6 decades. India is now regarded as a economic superpower but at the same time Pakistan is a ‘critical ally in war against terror’ for the big daddy. There is no USSR and Chinese don’t deserve any comment. Going to UN will also mean negotiations which will almost certainly include Kashmir.

In last 2 months we kept sending proofs and New Year cards and they kept rubbishing all of it. We kept trying to put pressure from super powers and Pakistan kept buying time for it’s cover up stories. And now when their probe has concluded that they are innocent, we have very limited options. We have been waiting for someone else who will come and clean the mess at our door step. Not even a municipality sweeper cleans up individual door steps. We have to do it ourselves.

I am not supporting an all out war. That is something which may be too much in already troubled times however using our economic might along with diplomacy is not a bad option. Pakistan is already struggling with it’s economy. Lot’s of eatables are exported from India to Pak so that they can meet their requirements. The economical strength can also be used to persuade others to follow the suit.

Let’s stop waiting for a white butcher and get down to action ourselves. Diplomacy is a powerful weapon but only diplomacy is not enough to win this war. They started a proxy war; let’s start an economic one if not military conflict.