October 30, 2003 ☼ Foreign Affairs
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
I think Pakistan’s proposal to treat 40 Indian children in Pakistani speciality hospitals is in bad taste, and against the spirit of the Noor Fatima story.
The worst was the offer of scholarships to Indian students and Kashmiri widows, rape victims and injured. We all know what sort of students were given ‘Pakistani government scholarships’ as the world is still aflame due to the activities of its alumni association. By playing to the lowest political gallery, Pakistan has revealed its true response to the proposals - purely a tool of oneupmanship.
And if this has left some people in India’s foriegn ministry with a lack of words, they have only the softie-softies to blame.
Daily Times Editorial says: ” But will this solve anything? The simple answer is no. In all fairness, however, Pakistan cannot be faulted for its package since the pattern behind what India is doing is quite obvious. India wanted Pakistan to reject the CBMs. That would have served two purposes. Pakistan would have earned the displeasure of the international community which has welcomed the Indian move; and the BJP would have gone to the elections (the current state ones and the national ones in 2004) suitably hawkish on Pakistan to win the big cow-belt vote.”
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