This is not the first time Pakistan has denied its involvement in anti-India activity. But what is interesting is that they deny their mischievous only to accept it later. Just consider the statement by a former ISI man that Lashkar is no more in their control.

To let slip anything out of control it is necessary to have control over it first. The same ex-ISI man has accepted ISI’s active role in the creation of LeT to fulfill the dreams of their political leader, of cutting India into thousand pieces and fighting with India for thousand years. If anybody has doubts about India’s claim regarding Pakistan then it would be worth to check Pakistan’s long history of denials and then acceptance. There should not even be a shade of doubt about the relation between India and Pakistan. They certainly perceive India as their sole enemy and technically we are at war with them since 1989.

The history of war between India and Pakistan always leaves Pakistan in bad taste and 1971 is something they cannot forget. Given the Pakistani Army’s sour memories we should not live under any illusion about their intentions. It not only will resist almost all the moves in the direction of normalcy of ties but also in the present case they are the major hurdle in India’s way to arraign the culprits. It is an army, which, rather than paying for its fault, has made the political figures to pay.

Though the government in Pakistan is the dejure governing body, the army is the defacto ruling organisation and has subjected the dejure institution. They also know that in the event of any debacle it is the political authority that will have to pay and the army will remain entirely insulated. And that’s precisely the reason that they keep on indulging themselves in anti-India activities.

The army in Pakistan is only under the control of its chief; they have made political authority answerable to them but they themselves are answerable to none. The army in any country is not responsible for diplomacy and it is difficult to deal with them diplomatically. Their diplomatic insulation, whether in peace or in war, makes them rogue if the political establishment is weak and Pakistan is the most perfect example of this. Hence, unless and until the army in Pakistan is made to pay a heavy price, there is no way to bring them under civilian control. But the question is who will bell the cat?

There is one and only nation that is in a position to arm-twist the Pakistani army. It is the US. But given their geopolitical interest it is too early to expect them to force the army as they would not like to hamper their chances in the region. They would certainly not like a nuclear armed army to be pushed into a corner and the Pakistani Army is well aware of the US’ compulsion. It is this tacit assurance, which gives the Pakistani Army confidence to undertake any anti-India activity and also leads them to believe that they will come out unscathed in the event of India optinf to confront them. They definitely look at US as their defence shield.

Given the circumstances in South Asia, there is no doubt that there will not be any de-escalation at the level of military and politics between India and Pakistan. A war between these two countries could have grave consequences in 2008 than what it could have been a decade and half ago. And there is every possibility that it will become impossible to attack Pakistan ten years hence. The more we delay our action whether covert or overt the greater will be cost. The question should not be whether to resort to any cross border operation or not, but whether we want to confront a nuke armed army who knows its limitation in a war or we want to fight more hardened, ready to die, a big sized, and a well organised nuclear armed militant group, who think themselves to be answerable to nobody on this earth?

India as nation must awake to the fact that diplomacy too has its limitation and at some point of time armed conflict does becomes necessary. Drying up of resources is definitely one option against the Pakistani Army but their political establishment is too weak to even think about it.

Neither the US nor any country in the world can ensure this and even if it is ensured there are ways for the army to raise funds. The opium cultivation and trade by their trained boys could well come to meet their expenses. This can be inferred from the willingness of Baitullah Mehsud’s Pakistani Taliban to fight alongside the Pakistani Army should the need arise.

For rouge army, diplomacy hardly acts as deterrent; but threat of being annihilated does. It will become extremely difficult for the Indian Army to take any action with a Democrat President in the US. Hence, India must launch a massive diplomatic offensive but at the same time exert military pressure as soon as possible and let Pakistan choose between the two ways to solve the two decade old problem.

We have seen how diplomacy lead to more and more conflict between India and Pakistan. Kargil and Parliament attack are two best examples of failed diplomacy. Diplomacy only is certainly not going to work in case of India and Pakistan but diplomacy plus threat definitely will. Do talk, where talk is necessary but if it does not yield then it is wise to protect sovereignty by arms. And in present case talks are not leading to anywhere.

Many people in India believe that war is not a solution; but the fact is that in past, war to a large extent helped in solving our problem. There is no war which has not led to casualty and there can not be happy ending to a war but there is no way to ensure peace if all efforts fail. Belligerence cannot be answered with diplomacy.