TERRORISM

Present Status

The fight against terror in the subcontinent is useful to the US !

 by Ashok Motra

Swat is a metaphor, but a metaphor representing a harsh reality: parts of Pakistan are already Tal­iban territory. Another metaphor has, however, failed to at­tract any worthwhile attention, even though it reflects, at least for the subcontinent, an equally harsh reality.
India's vote-on-account budget has not been taken seriously, and for honest good reasons. Forget its in­come side, even its expenditure ac­counts are by and large an imagi­nary exercise; the new government, to be installed three months hence, is going to rework both the arith­metic and the priorities. And yet, one particular proposal in the inter­im budget is bound to be considered sacrosanct; the new regime would not dare tinker with it. The item is defence outlay. In the light of the grave event that is now ponderously described as 26/li, the outgoing government has suggested an in­crease in defence expenditure by as much as Rs 40,000 crore, that is, by 35 per cent over the year. Nobody, whether in Parliament or outside, has expressed concern over this in­ordinately large rise in defence out­lay. Discretion is the better part of valour. Whoever questions the ra­tionale of fortifying the country's defence network so as to cope effec­tively with the menace of global ter­ror would run the risk of his or her patriotic credentials coming under close scrutiny.
India's formal recognition thus of 26/11 as a watershed in the na­tion's affairs signals a major gain for the American administration. The Indian government had already prided Uses' as a strategic partner of the United States of America. It has taken a further step forward, its explicit endorsement of the Ameri­can pointof view thatthe Taliban— along with its various associates such as the Lashkar-e-Toiba—is as much India's sworn enemy as of the US; henceforth it is a global war for India too, a common global war against a common enemy
The American administration can claim to have squeezed eut of the developments tak- -ing place in the wake of 26/11 anoth­er substantial'victory. It has per­suaded Pakistan's ruling circles, in­cluding the army brass, to admit, even if obliquely, that they are no longer hi full territorial control of their country. In the circumstances, they are ready to bury the hatchet with the Indian establishment and join in a grand alliance with the US and India to put down the pestilen­tial enemy, the Taliban. Pay to the devilthecreditthatisitsdue:theUS administration was in a state of transition during these weeks; that did not prevent it from a most deft handling of the situation. It H¥Ut to relentless counselling i both Indian and Pakistan; ties, finally convincing I "'*' to let bygones be bygones, ft on they are going to fight destroy the-demon of represented, at this-V ment and in this particular region, by the Taliban.
It needed some doing. Pride is everybody's prerogative! For Pak­istan's ruling politicians, enjoying a democratic mandate, it must have been an excruciatingly devastating experience to be cajoled into agree­ing of the fact of their not being in
effective charge of many parts of their countcy For the Indian au­thorities too, it was ft delicate deci­sion to agree to suspend the season of belligerence, the Lok Sabha polls are proximate enough and political adversaries could have attempted to condemn the tacittmderstanding reached with Pakistanis an unjus­tifiable din^i^Mj^^ nation'sdignitjitij
lief, the Bharatiya;SIanata Party leaders chose-to play alonig. The BJP,, actually can have no mental reser­vations in joining the concordat against global terror, It has its pet theory about saboteurs at home, and the kith and kin of these sabo­teurs across the border, If, along with the Taliban, tJ»,LeT too could be given a bloody nose, Kashmir, in the reckoning of the BJP, would be safe for India.
This grand arrangement be­tween the Indian and Pakistani es­tablishments, under the benign overlordship of the Americans, has other ramifications as well. The US is passing through trying financial times. The Obama administration has its hands fia&wen as it tries to ride out the eXxmomic crisis; re­sources have to be harnessed and carefully disbirsetettj the object of saving the nation'from the pros­pect of aneconotniccsownslidethat would equal, OT'pren surpass, the Great Depression of the 1930s. It would be thflnM^|>ibr whatever help, big or small, its strategic part­ners might provide. It would suit its interests if, while its own defence budget is kept on leash, strategic partners like India and Pakistan raised their defence spending. A gesture of this nature on their part would not only ensure the satisfac­tory conduct of the war against the Taliban, it would offer some sub­sidiary advantages as well.
For instance, India's defence spending has always had a high im­port content; the bulk of the pro­posed increase in its defence outlay is bound to help the military-indus­trial complex in the US gain some extra breathing time. India's politi­cians need not feel unhappy either; when international arms dealers
sign contracts, it is standard pi ac-tice for them to set aside a comr lis-sion of 10 per cent or thereabo uts for the parties offering the con­tracts. Toe issue of Hl-B visas should not be allowed to intr sde into this happy picture. It wf uld also be lestmajestt to ask how 1 lat alien outfit, tbe Federal Bureai of Investigation, could acquire righttogrfllIndian citizens! "