“We are this close to bombing Pakistan” – Washington Insiders in frustration

One of my bosses once said, “you should give people a long enough rope, so they can go and hang themselves”.  When the rope is being given, it seems like a cruel joke on ones ownself.  But then the guy who is predisposed to stupidity eventually succeeds for you.  Pakistan is one such guy.

India, not because it wanted to, but because it had a lot of inept rulers and few smart administrators, gave Pakistan a rather long rope.  When it was smug in having India “on the mat” – typical Punjabi bravado – and with China firmly (or believed to be) behind them, Pakistani Jehadi minds took on the biggest Daddy of all.  The US of A.

Little realized by normal laymen, but I am sure understood by many – that blame for 9-11 lies squarely at the doorsteps of Pakistan’s Intelligence agency – the ISI.  Now, to differentiate between ISI, the Pak Army, and the Jehadis is a rather facetious exercise.  In matters pertaining to outsiders – specially “kafirs” like Jews, Americans and Indians – they act in a synchronized manner.

The nexus with China, and the addiction with Jehad and Nukes is taking Pakistan to the edge of collapse and destruction.

In a rather chilling message, Christine Fair shares the level of Washington insiders with Pakistan in her “Foreign Policy” article thus.

Many in the Washington have told me that “we are ‘this close’ to bombing them,” yet the Pakistanis continue to somnambulate in the dream of their country’s own importance.

In his article in First Post, B. Raman shares another dimension of the Pakistan and US equation.  The backing of Pakistan by Saudi Arabia and most notably China.  He puts it like this:

Fair’s analysis, while brilliant and thought-provoking, has, however, failed to look into how Pakistan has been able to maintain a policy of defiance against the US for over a year. It does not bring out the fact that Pakistan’s defiance has been largely due to its confidence that China and Saudi Arabia would never let it suffer or collapse, whatever be the punitive measures that might be taken by the US against it.

He goes on to share how Kargil War for Pakistan turned sour not because of US putting pressure on Pakistan, but because China refused to help when Musharaf and Nawas Sharif went there.  That is what took Sharif to US in rather short order.  He also talks about the Missile-Nuke quid pro quo with North Korea with the assistance of China.

It is a fact that while Pakistan got its Nuke plans by hood-winking, bribing and lying to US, the Nuke weapons were obtained from China.  Even the missiles.

Note: It is important to note that no country can have a Missile system and no Space program. If you can send a missile in air, you can send a rocket as well – including the payload.  So, if any country has an entire missile arsenal, but no space program, then it has been sold the missiles by someone.  China, in this case, via North Korea.

It seems that now the West is waking up to the threat of the nexus of China and Pakistan.

Western states pressured China at closed-door talks last week to address concerns about its plans to expand a nuclear power plant in Pakistan and provide more information, but were rebuffed, two diplomatic sources said on Wednesday.

China, however, is steadfast in its support of Pakistani Nuclear Ambitions.  For now, it plans to proceed ahead with the expansion of Chashma reactors.

Saudi Angle:  Saudi’s impact is in two ways – reassuring Pakistan that in absence of any other funding, Saudis will back them up.  Also the Wahabi-oriented Jehadi organizations basically live and thrive because of Saudi money.

India has been talking for long about the nexus and the proliferation of the various Jehadi groups and their connivance with the Armed forces of the country, but now the American Journalists have approached this subject as it is a hot discussion in Washington.

Rather than shutting down the various Islamist terror groups operating from Pakistan’s soil with varying degrees of explicit and implicit state support, it has pushed jihadi leaders such as Lashkar-e-Taiba to the forefront of the recent political gathering of rogues, the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC or “Defense of Pakistan Council”). The DPC is festooned with jihadi leaders, as well as former military and intelligence personas known as jihadi apologists. The DPC, of course, is then used by the military and intelligence agencies as a foil to efforts by the political parties to renormalize relations with the United States and seek political and economic rapprochement with India.

The current fiasco on Sarabjit Singh’s return can be seen as another example of what the Jehadi groups like DPC can do to impact the India-Pakistan relationship.

So what is the way out?

Containment – says Christine.  If the country itself cannot be contained, she suggests, then containing the threat is more feasible.  This will mean that putting pressure and containing people as opposed to the entire nation and agencies – such as Pakistani intelligence, military, and other personalities.