The US is planning to sell surveillance drones to Pakistan. India wants an assurance that these will not be used against India. Are you kidding me? Does the Indian governemtn seriously believe the Pakistanis stick to their word? When Vajpayee rode the bus to Lahore the Pakistani Army was busy with Kargil operations.
Another interesting item that can be noted is the statement of the American Defence Secretary, Robert Gates. He says that India and Pakistan will be provided arms on an "equitable basis". Does this not seem suspiciously close to actively inducing an arms race between the two nations?
Looking at Pakistan I am reminded of the erstwhile Soviet Union. A very important reason was the financial ruin that the Soviet Union had found itself in. Way back when Dr. Strangelove was made, the Soviet ambassador in the movie says that Russia was finding it difficult to match all the races it had entered with the US and hence finally developed the Doomsday Device. Pakistan has been trying to match India in various aspects, at least wrt defence. I wonder if one day Pakistan will collapse one day because of this. This picture is all the more worrying for India as while a Pakistan in turmoil might be good for our domestic peace (it will be too busy dealing with internal conflict to bother about India), this is only okay as long as the disturbance and the involved elements do not spill over to the India.
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