145;Talks will fail, then you learn lessons146;

Broadly, he sees three reasons for lasting Indo-Pakistani peace being a more real prospect than at any time before.

First, he says, 8216;8216;There is much more contact between the countries outside of south Asia. Also India is changing, getting over the strange mix of arrogance and an inferiority complex that characterised its elite. Its strength is its soft power. Industries like IT may contribute very little to India8217;s GDP but have changed the perception of this country.8217;8217;

As such, Cohen, an India watcher 8216;8216;for 40 years, since just after the India-China war of 19628217;8217;, sees India8217;s confidently-growing economy having a greater stake in peace in its backyard.

Second, Cohen argues, Pakistan too may just be beginning to reverse 20 years of Islamisation and become Jinnah8217;s Pakistan. The Idea of Pakistan, in fact, goes back to Jinnah8217;s final speeches, where he put forth his framework for the new nation: 8216;8216;Secular, democratic, friendly with India.8217;8217;

In the next half-century, India demonised Jinnah and Pakistan selectively used him. Today, suggests Cohen, 8216;8216;General Pervez Musharraf is finally saying things he only spoke privately five years ago. The vision of the Pakistani establishment has evolved.8217;8217;

Of course, that Pakistan was 8216;8216;forced to become an American 8216;ally8217; after 9/118217;8217; has also helped. A nuclear Pakistan turning more Islamist would be 8216;8216;catastrophic for both the US and India8217;8217;.

Third, Cohen points to Afghanistan, painting it as much more rosy than doomsayers often suggest: 8216;8216;It8217;s moving in the right direction, a modern, economically viable state. This is a great process 8230; Afghanistan could emerge as a model state in south Asia, if its neighbours agree to keep it neutral. And India and Pakistan don8217;t take their rivalry back into that country.8217;8217;

For a carefullly cautious man to exude such hope is not usual. Why then is Cohen so clear that the present peace process will break down? Simply because, he says, there is no political ownership of it.

8216;8216;Left to themselves, bureaucrats could spin this around forever,8217;8217; he shrugs, 8216;8216;India would be content to negotiate forever.8217;8217; The key breakthrough requires more than diplomatic jaw-jaw; it calls for 8216;8216;statesmanship8217;8217;. 8216;8216;The times,8217;8217; signs off Cohen, 8216;8216;needs a Jawaharlal Nehru.8217;8217;

8216;8216;Don8217;t look at resolving Kashmir or the LoC in strictly legal, territorial or human rights terms,8217;8217; Cohen warns, 8216;8216;those approaches have not worked. In the end, justice has to be achieved and both leaderships should be able to go home and tell their countries that this is a victory8230;Even if the other side is also claiming victory.8217;8217;

One method could be a 8216;8216;comprehensive, general settlement of south Asian border disputes8212;India-Pakistan, India-China, Pakistan-Afghanistan, Pakistan-China8217;8217;. Widening the canvas, Cohen feels, 8216;8216;would be more appropriate for trade-offs8217;8217;.

What one country would lose here, it would gain there. It8217;s certainly an audacious plan, even if its practicability is debatable.

Finally, as an Indophile decades before it became the fashion, how does Cohen see Washington8217;s sustained engagement of New Delhi? 8216;8216;Oh, I feel vindicated,8217;8217; he says, 8216;8216;Democrats and Republicans are both claiming credit for discovering India 8230; It8217;s almost like the BJP and the Congress both claiming credit for the peace process with Pakistan!8217;8217;

Hmm 8230; India, the Beltway8217;s ultimate biipartisan issue!