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Pakistan as India’s “Buffer” state is the incredible theory dreamed up by yet another member of the current Indian “intellectual” elite. it seems to be the norm among them to make up their mind first on any given topic and then cherry pick only those facts that fit their theory. This op-ed titled “Let’s wish them well” by Jaithirth Rao over the weekend continues in that hallowed tradition.

He writes

“My support for partition and for the continuance of a strong Pakistan stems from what I would call a practical sense of realpolitik. Pakistan is the buffer state that India needs to protect us from the hot-spots of Afghanistan and Persia (aka Iran). Less than three hundred years ago, we were invaded by Persians (led by Nadir Shah) and Afghans (led by Ahmed Shah Abdali). Both of these were in the nature of predatory raids. They did not result in conquests. But they did succeed in finishing off the glorious Moghul Empire and in causing considerable human and economic damage. It has been noted that a substantial portion of Afghan GDP derived from raids on India! Now as then, raids, unrest and related tensions are real dangers to us.

But let us breathe a sigh of relief. If today a Nadir Shah or an Abdali were to try to invade us, he would have to first defeat the legions of General Musharraf. In effect, the Pakistani army will protect us from the assembled forces beyond the Khyber. This is the kind of “outsourcing of our defence” that should really warm our hearts. Herein lies the overriding need for us to support the continuance of a strong Pakistani state and an effective Pakistani army.”

Sounds incredible and to be fair he actually seems to believe it himself for some reason. Read the rest…

The UPA government seems to be finally taking atleast some matters of National Security with the seriousness it deserves.

Antony Spells out terms for Siachen Solution

Pakistan will have to authenticate the Actual Ground Position Line in the Siachen Glacier before any forward movement could be made to resolve the issue, Defence Minister A K Antony said on Monday.

“The question of any forward movement comes only after Pakistan authenticates the AGPL. Discussions are continuing and there is no solution so far,” Antony told reporters after addressing the Unified Commanders’-in-Chief Conference.

But then the same seriousness seems to be lacking when dealing with China. Is it because there is a direct political penalty to pay if the UPA or any other government is seen to be unassertive while dealing with Pakistan, whereas it is not so in the case of China since it occupies a very small mindspace and recall value in the mind of the Average Indian?

This needs to change. The Indian establishment and especially the MEA should be held to account for their weak and ineffective dealings vis-a-vis China. There should be direct electoral and other penalties for any government not seen to be assertive in their dealings with the PRC.

And for that to happen the issue of China should be brought into and discussed threadbare in the mainstream rather than relegate it to the sidelines with politically correct newspeak.

The pipeline pipedream negotiations have entered a final phase and things are not looking good for India in any way. We are not only stuck with the unacceptable risk of having a vital energy line in Pakistani hands but also are stuck with a monopoly supplier who has now forced India to pay very high “international prices” for the gas, defeating the very purpose of the Pipeline in the first place- cheaper gas.

Plus India also has to pay nearly $200 million worth of protection money called as “transit fees” to the Pakistani state mafia which will dutifully utilise it to subsidise the Jihadis. One wonders whether a UPA obsessed with the so called “social justice” couldn’t have found a better use for that money, for example by strengthening the mid-day meal scheme in government schools across the country or sending more rich OBC kids to the IITs and IIMs.

Pak okays gas sharing pact with India

April 10, 2007- Clearing the decks for the $7-billion Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline project, the Pakistan government on Tuesday approved the gas sharing arrangement with New Delhi.

Giving details about the IPI project, Waqar said Iran would provide 2.1 billion cubic feet of gas per day which India and Pakistan would share equally. In the second phase, Iran would provide 5.3 billion cubic feet out of which Pakistan would get 2.1 and India 3.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day.

Construction of the Pakistani portion of the pipeline, which would be in the range of 750 to 1,050 kilometre, would cost around $3 billion, Waqar said without referring to the Indo-Pak differences over the royalty.

And this Pipeline is not even cost-effective.Both the Pakistani and Irani shylocks seem fully ready with their sharpened knives to carve out their pound of Indian flesh.

Iran wants to sell natural gas to India and Pakistan at $4.93 per million British thermal unit (at $60 per barrel crude oil price). On top of this, Pakistan wants a transit fee of $0.49 per mBtu (10 per cent of the gas price) and a transportation tariff of $1.57 per mBtu, making the delivered price of gas at India-Pakistan border $7 per mBtu.

During the bilateral talks here in February, Pakistan had proposed 57 cents per mBtu as transit fee, whereas India said it cannot be more than 15 cents per mBtu.

According to Indian officials as per Pakistan’s calculations the transit fee worked out to $220 million (around 10 per cent of delivery of gas) whereas India believed that it should be around $70 million. India proposed that transit fee is to be determined based on commodity price and it cannot be the delivered price as it amounted to double accounting, they said.