July 18, 2006 ☼ Foreign Affairs ☼ Security
This is an archived blog post from The Acorn.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s participation at the G-8 summit was meaningful for some things. But ‘gains’ against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism is not one of them. No matter how C Raja Mohan spins it.
There were three real gains for New Delhi from today’s statement from the entire international community. One, unprecedented international solidarity with India’s struggle against terror; two, a collective warning that Pakistan must watch out; and finally the assertion terrorism in the region affects all the nations of the world and is a threat to “international peace and securityâ€.
The phrase “threat to international peace and security†is usually a trigger for the United Nations Security Council to act. While that might be some distance away, it should not be entirely inconceivable. [IE]More likely, this is simply an attempt by the UPA government’s media managers to explain Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s decision to go ahead with a trip to St Petersburg days after the attack on Mumbai. His absence from the scene does not make much of a difference, for his lack of public leadership is now accepted as another of those things India just has to live with. But national security advisor M K Narayanan’s being on the trip is surprising—one would reasonably have expected him to be doing everything to uncover the conspiracy, hunt down the terrorists and send some signals to their sponsors. And Raja Mohan does not say that India may not have pressed for the G-8 statement to mention Pakistan by name.
Counter-terrorism begins at home. Those charged with this responsibility would do well to take their own steps instead of relying on G-8 statements and possible UN resolutions.
If you would like to share or comment on this, please discuss it on my GitHub
Previous © Copyright 2003-2024. Nitin Pai. All Rights Reserved.