Friday, July 31, 2009

The fallacies behind India's Pakistan policy - Windows Live

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    • Dangerous misconceptions

      Brahma Chellaney

    • Singh’s recent statements in Parliament point to the fallacies on which he has been reconstructing his Pakistan policy. His personal imprint on that policy bears at least eight perilous misconceptions.
    • One, political geography is unalterable.
    • Two, India and Pakistan are locked by a shared destiny
    • Three, the alternative to a policy seeking to placate a terror-exporting adversary is war.
    • Four, India cannot emerge as a world power without making peace with Pakistan.
    • Five, as India has nothing to hide and indeed “our conduct is an open book,” it can let Pakistan include any issue in the bilateral agenda.
    • Six, if Pakistan merely acknowledges what is incontrovertible, that is enough for India to change policy course.
    • Seven, high-level dialogue and “meaningful” dialogue can be optically delinked
    • Eight, diplomacy of hope and prayer makes sense