Musharraf Plays in Traffic While Vajpayee Runs with Scissors
May 29th, 2002 - 6:11 pm
India and Pakistan — two countries without much to win through war and with everything to lose. So here’s how they wise up and reduce tension along their disputed border:
On the Pakistan side, an army spokesman said artillery and mortar duels along the frontier near Sialkot killed five civilians, injured seven and sent hundreds of residents fleeing for safety.
Tensions in the most recent face-off over Kashmir escalated after a militant attack on India
Whats even more odd is that I cant pick one to root for. I mean… I’m kinda leaning toward India… because Hindi arent as violent as moslem… but then again.. Pakistan IS kinda helping us, though out of fear that we’ll crush them too.
I wouldn’t know about Hidus being intrinsically less violent than their Muslim neighbors. Ask a Sikh about Indira Gandhi ‘s assassination (3000 of them were slaughtered). There’s more than enough violence to go around on the subcontinent. Hindu nationalists, now in control of the Indian government, have been stoking the flames of religious tension in India for political gain since at least ’92, when a mob destroyed a Muslim mosque in Ayodha, which the Hindus claimed was placed on the birthplace of their god Ram. Weeks of deadly violence ensued.
Also this isn’t strictly a Hindu vs. Muslim war. According to the latest CIA factbook, 12% of Indians are Muslim. That may seem a relatively small portion of the population, but it adds up to around 120 million people. Pakistan’s total population is 140 million.
Any religion, no matter how tolerant and peace-loving, will always be conveniently ignored when it comes time for some good old fashioned infidel killing.
I agree, however, that India, with its tradition of democracy and an emerging capitalist economy, is certainly more palatable than Pakistan’s stagnating and unstable military dictatorship. I also think that Pakistan isn’t really interested in helping us root out the last Al-Queda from their western frontier.
I’m afraid I have limited sympathies for both parties.
At present, however, both sides are attempting to use the threat of war to persuade the US to intervene on the Kashmir conflict. Worse, their desired intervention (resembling that of the Palestinians) is to get the US to recognize their claim to the area, else they won’t de-escalate the conflict.
Essentially, side w/ me, or else I might set off this bomb and kill us all.
Kinda limits the amount of empathy I can generate…..
Mojo… good history lesson! LOL I was just going by Hotel owners versus quickie mart owners.
… We’ve got a quickie mart down here with a Paki that doesnt trust ANYBODY! Guess he kinda put me on India’s side. If given proper notice… I wouldnt mind if India and Pakistan did nuke each other… and their neighbors… at least get to Iran.
What is wrong with you, people? India defends itself from muslim terrorism. Period.
Doc
Ok, Captain, so what do you think India should do when the terrorists are striking deep within it’s heart at structures like the parliament?
What would the U.S. do if Mexican “freedom fighters” killed people in the Capitol?
Also, India is not threatening to set off the bomb unless someone else uses it on her first. It is Pakistan that has gone bomb-crazy – not India. This “nationalist” president opened bus service from Delhi to Lahore and actually travelled to Pakistan to extend a hand of peace. Then, Musharraf set off the Kargil war….
A little more history for those unaware…
Shanti
Captain:
Do we really have the capability to neutralize Pakistan’s missiles before they launch? I can buy us doing it in as little as a day if we were massively poised to do so and had adequate information on the launch sites. That’s still not fast enough, since the Pakistanis would probably launch if their nukes were in danger. They might even launch upon detecting our bombers.
The only way I could propose us cleanly destroying Pakistan’s nuclear capacity would require that Pakistan’s missiles be concentrated enough that we could send B2s to nuke the launch sites virtually simultaneously. I simply can’t buy Bush doing that.
Eric… My little plan is only wishful thinking of course, I don’t seriously think anyone will actually attempt it. However, I don