The leaked war diaries from Washington has created a furore around the world and in India especially. Its no wonder that ISI has been at fault again but the shameless manner in which this coincided with the $500m military aid to Pakistan. ISI as pointed out by India time and again is the single most state sponsored terrorist outfit in the world. While this has rocked the western world and american public with the mammoth loss of life in the afghan war, it has rubbed the western NATO allies the wrong way for concealing the dangerous SAM missiles Taliban is said to have acquired.
While this is the ultimate victory for data journalism and an ethical victory for the whistle blowers around the world this also leads us to the question how safe the classified documents available with our governments including sensitive war information. Infact what is to be hidden from the public should be shielded away from public for security reasons as well as for the greater common good. By greater common good I mean the panic it would create in the public sphere as well as the economic impact such panic could have on a world economy which is standing up after brought to knees by the banking scandals.
Perhaps this represents the greatest challenge for Barack Obama after assuming office. This has dented public support for his “surge policy” in afghan matters and also it has put the Pakistan centric strategy US was adopting in Afghanistan. He will be grilled in Senate for the alleged role of ISI and the huge annual aid US providing for Pakistan. This may well burn a hole in the public support for his afghan agenda and could well signal the end of War ! ( http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-10774073 ). Well, that may be a far fetched possibility but a definite change in policy is on the anvil for sure. Another challenge could come from within Afghanistan for the sheer number of Civilian deaths as published in leaked documents . (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/7910896/Wikileaks-Afghanistan-civilian-death-details-could-poison-relations.html ) . Again it will be wrong to assume that Hamid Karzai will wake up tomorrow and call up David Cameron to withdraw all the British forces! Yes, he will have to do something or it could turn a host of critics and columnists against his government , thus influencing the public opinion at large. David Cameron , leading a coalition government will not like to carry the burden of such a nasty baggage.
What is more important for India ? The leaked reports has vindicated our stance that ISI is behind majority of terrorist attacks happening in the subcontinent . This gives immense political and diplomatic mileage we were craving for particularly after failure of talks with Islamabad. We can intelligently use the situation to remain silent ( Yes! Silence speaks louder than words at times na? ) . Mounting international pressure could push Islamabad to buy time . The positive role we play in Afghanistan should be projected and gain some bargaining ground with Islamabad ( I am not supportive of any talks with the b******s in Pak) .
David Cameron as I write this has rightly succumbed to the diplomatic pressure and hinted at export of terror by Pakistan which will definitely have a negative impact on Islamabad!
I do not think there is any acceptable negotiation ground left in the case of Kashmir. INDIANS ARE NOT GOING TO BUY ANYTHING OTHER THAN KASHMIR AS A PART OF INDIA! It will be difficult to sell this to Pakistan . So I don’t see any reason why this should come in talks . But a stable Pakistan is of paramount interest to India as we have paid a lot for the anarchy in Pakistan. In fact the world at large has paid a heavy price for the rogue state Pakistan is.
