The three A’s of Pakistan “Allah, Army and America” have been replaced by “Anarchy”, “Al Qaeda” and “Afghanistan”. The Pakistan army has suffered severe causalities and is not interested in fighting fellow Muslims. At the same time the Durand line (Pak – Afghan border) is becoming diluted and the generals know they are fighting a losing war. America is no longer interested in this region and will be making cosmetic arrangements so that its stand on Al Qaeda doesn’t get diluted.

In a nutshell Pakistan has become a major security threat for all nations especially India. No country is interested in fighting this new war because of the complex nature of the enemy and their own demographic compulsions.

Indian security establishment must take serious note of the development or else it will be caught napping as before. Mumbai attack was just a trailer.
More such barbaric attacks from western border are going to happen in future.

The mass media in India is busy romanticizing Islam, glamorizing western lifestyle and dehumanizing Hinduism; it has no guts to take up serious issues. Similarly the Pakistan media was obsessed with Kashmir, Palestine & global Muslim atrocities, unconcerned that they would be devoured by the monster of Islamic militants. Which had been created and nurtured by their successive governments.

The future strategy should be to somehow convince the Pakistan military & government to launch an offensive against Taliban and other Islamic insurgents. The Indian government will also have to become more proactive and borders will have to be sealed to prevent infiltration of any kind.

It is now increasingly clear that Pakistan as a nation is unsafe for the entire world. It supports Al Qaeda, destroyed Afghanistan and has been continuing the policy of death by 1000 cuts against India. Worldwide, most of the terrorist planning and operation is done from Pakistan and is a safe haven for terrorists.

It is now time to reverse the policy of death by 1000 cuts on to Pakistan by taking some action like:

• The main reason for the Pakistan to swagger and overconfidence is that no action will be taken against it for any misdemeanour is because they have Nuclear weapons. It is time to de nuclarise Pakistan by coercive diplomacy.

• All compensation claims in case of any terrorist event arising from Pakistani citizens (stateless or otherwise) should be forwarded to Pakistan government. They must pay for their actions – in Cash.
• In every terrorist attack, there is always an ISI connection. It is not only a nuisance for other countries but even its own politicians. The local politicians must be convinced to dismantle ISI for their own survival.
  
• Restrict the number of visas issued to Pakistanis wanting to visit India. Most of terrorists and their planners would have visited Mumbai several times on a recce visit before executing the attack.
  
• Stop all trade with Pakistan. Their GDP is on a decline and they are importing most of their daily consumption items especially food stuff.
  
• Call off all cricketing ties. As our sports minister told us they can’t send a team to Mumbai to kill and then expect us to be playing cricket. Also the PCB is financially dependent on Indo-Pak matches for most of the revenue.
  
• Don’t give work visas to Pakistani actors for TV & Bollywood. Much hyped the people to people contact has not helped.
  
• Pakistan may disintegrate anytime so the Indian government must start negotiating with local politicians especially those from Sindh & Baloch governors. India must give up the thought that you can’t change the neighbours.
  
• Pakistan is a bankrupt country. It survives on loans by IMF. India must force the IMF do give conditional aid and arrange to dismantle the terrorists infrastructure.

War is not an option, but taking no action would be worse. Just arresting few people only to be released later will not send a positive sign. This policy must be pursued till time they hand over the 40 people demanded by the government of India.

The target – Indian Economy
India is not a third world country anymore. Yes it is a developing economy with several poor people, but in an atmosphere of gloom and doom in the global economy, India is one of the very few countries with over 8% growth rate. The terrorists have struck at main symbols of prestige and targeted the elite business community. The impact on the minds of the Indian Industrialists, business community and investor would be enormous but short lived because Indian economy is not too globally integrated.

The perpetrator – Pakistan
As usual all leads point to Pakistan. The terrorists came from Karachi and were constantly in touch with their bosses in Pakistan. The victims were profiled and killed especially Jews. The terrorist caught has confessed to being from Faridkot, recieved training in Muzaffarabad and came from Karachi city in Pakistan. Also satellite phone, ammuninations and mobiles recovered from Terrorists are from Pakistan.

The operation – Army Way
There are 3 ways to solve a problem – the right way, the wrong way & the army way. There may be several armchair critics who would argue that it could have been planned better, but in such a tight situation, it was executed very methodically. During the entire operation there was no argument, no discussion, no, hostage, no ransom – just action. The NSG commandos came, completed the assignment and moved out. Yes, they acted as though they had no hostage situation but then they were dealing with cold blooded Mad Animals.

Our government – Absolute Failure
Also it is a complete failure on the part of the UPA government. Instead of giving pseudo secular statements the prime minister must now act. The Home Minster, Shivraj Patil is treated as totally incompetent by all sections of the country. There have been so many bomb blasts since the UPA government took over that it seems there is no central intelligence and police working at all.

Future – Outsource
Indians are intelligent cowards. Everything cannot be done by everybody. We may be good at software development and handling telephone calls but security is an altogether different issue. Maybe we should tie-up with FBI,Mossad etc and share intelligence regularly. And most important Pakistan must be made to pay for it. The total cost to Mumbai would be around $ 2 billion and it must be deducted from their IMF loan. Also all visas to Pakistani citizens must be cancelled immediately and all business relations put in freezer till the suspects are deported.

It was not the first terrorist attack on India however unlike previous terrorist attacks the victims include foreigners and high profile Indians. It won’t be forgotten or forgiven easily.