Coercive diplomacy has failed

The Simla Agreement was the maximum which we could extract from Pakistan to buy peace. People today do not realise how difficult it was for us to look after 93,000 prisoners of war as per the Geneva convention. There was never any opportunity to clinch the final settlement at Simla.

The current stand off between India and Pakistan after the December 13 attack has been a costly game for both nations. It has only internationalised the Kashmir problem. There is also nothing to be euphoric over Musharraf8217;s admission about terrorist infiltration. Neither he nor an elected government can stop this menace.

We have not gained anything by the threat of force nor are we going to gain anything in future. The threat of force, which the media would like to term 8216;coercive diplomacy8217;, works only when there is a wide gap between the military might of the opponents. Not between countries having the fourth and fifth largest armies in the world.