A Subcontinental Dogfight

8226; The Americans have convinced you that they are arming your 8216;potentially8217; hostile neighbour for your own good! If USA wants to see a more successful and moderate Pakistan, it can do many other things beside arm them with weapons. The US is actually draining away whatever little funds Pakistan and India can spend on the improvement of lives of the masses here.R Pareek, On email

8226; Your articles always contain original ideas and should lend a new dimension to any political strategist.
Bhupendra Bhatia, Mumbai

You have presented a correct perspective on arm-sales to both countries. I hope your views will be taken in healthy spirit by our policy makers.
Hari Shanker Sharma, On email

8226; Your commentary reads like a copy of the State Department spokesperson. A very thoughtful article by the former Republican Senator Larry Pressler in The New York Times recently deals with the grave and dangerous consequences, economically and strategically, of the sale of the aircraft. President Bush8217;s policy to sell arms to South Asia is a contradiction of his attempts to persuade the European Union not to sell arms to China, with a possibility of being transferred to Pakistan. Besides, the sales indicate an approval and endorsement of General Musharraf, another contradiction of President Bush8217;s effort to support democracy in the subcontinent.

Further, it is a wrong signal to Iran and North Korea that Pakistan, the source of proliferation, clandestine operations, and arms black market, is not at fault in supplying nuclear weapon design, another contradiction of Bush8217;s so called anti-proliferation policy.
Nirode Mohanty, US

8226; I would like to draw your attention towards the American economy with projected deficit of almost 1.2 trillion dollars in the year 2005. The same country published a Pentagon report last year about the state of Indian Army quoting examples of fused light bulbs in Army Headquarters and in South Block. We need to put things in order in terms of state terrorism and cross-border terrorism rather than buying into a myopic think-tank vision about the future of Pakistani or Indian defence.
Muzaffar Syed, Canada

8226; The IAF opposition to the F-16s is ridiculous. It reveals the old self- defeating mentality of the Indian armed forces. The US is not foolish, they know India is a useful future ally. The Indian armed forces wedded to old socialist romanticism still want to buy outdated, low quality weapons from the Russians or French.

Rather than waiting for the US to offer F-16s to Pakistan, India should have asked to buy F-16s from the US three years back.

They talk about HAL producing fighter jets. Yet these are PSUs that are hardly on the cutting edge of technology. This is a golden opportunity for India to join the US camp against China and I am sure US will be the more reliable partner. Note how the US stands behind Korea, Japan, Singapore and Turkey. We need to decide if we want to make the same mistake we made in 1947, that is, to join the Russian camp and remain a backward, irrelevant third world country or become a powerful independent country. Compare the developed condition of Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong with the backward condition of Russia, Eastern Europe or India. We must make the right choice and decide on it now.
Vijay Menon, On email

8226; It was not in the early 60s that 8216;8216;Pakistan was a closer ally8217;8217; but in the early 8216;50s perhaps 1954 when our neighbour had joined the US sponsored CENTO and SEATO alliances. Responding to Nehru8217;s protests, President Eisenhower offered India four tanks for every one tank given to Pakistan of course provided India joined the the pacts. This made Nehru even more angry. I vividly remember Nehru thundering in the Lok Sabha to the effect that 8216;8216;the president of the United States does India less than justice by his offer and accused him of 8216;8216;reversing the process of history8217;8217;.
Rabindra, On email

8226; I agree with your analysis that the master plan to stabilise Pakistan is in India8217;s best interest. It is, however, worrisome that the stability of Pakistan is entrusted to someone who demonstrated a shocking lack of understanding of the 8216;8216;big picture8217;8217;in 1999. The fear is that new toys would embolden the General to try new tactics.

Even if the General is restrained, how long will he last? As an Indian-American, I am indeed impressed with India8217;s mature reaction; broader goals appear to be driving the policies for a change than reactions conditioned by the insecurities of our colonial past.
Ganesh Subbarayan, On email