What they said was that there will not be any repeat of 26/11 but what they did not say is that there has been one attack after another on various cities in the country and there is no guarantee that these attacks will be stopped. This is what came out of the joint statement issued by the Indian and the Pakistani prime ministers. And while it is still being debated whether Manmohan Singh bowed before Pakistan and whether US pressurized India into doing so, what most of us have overlooked is that on one side Pakistan had accepted that there aren't just "non-state" actors who are responsible for terror acts in India but also that they can stop it if they want. Secondly, they will not do anything as stupid as 26/11 again as it gives India enough proof to expose them internationally, instead, acts like bomb blasts would be carried out so that the identity of the "actors" can always be debated. Such acts also rob them of opportunity to create ambiguity in the minds of minorities who this time had clear proof of involvement of Pakistan and Islamic militants. They refused to let these attackers be buried.
Right from 2006, bombs went off in almost every part of the country and the explosions stopped only after 26/11. Mind you, it isn't that our security and intelligence apparatus has suddenly become the world's best but it's just out "friends" across the border must have decided to keep it low owing to the international attention that the attack got them. A few months more and it will start all over again. No wonder that the IB is religiously sending out alerts, they, however are reluctant to say that the alerts are based on pictures that were snapped about 3 years back so the best thing to do is to send out periodic alerts and in case something does happen then they can easily wash off their hands saying "we warned you."
But then they also have their arguments. There are so many agencies involved in gathering and collating the information that most of the time the information gathered is lost or ignored and we have seen that happening in Kargil as well. The very same agencies who are expected to guard us have in fact turned allies to terror due to their botched up operations. The sim cards used in 26/11 attacks are a clear proof of that. To add to the misery, the agencies even disclosed their agent's name and arrested him.
An another matter that came up at the NAM meet and raises questions is that arms bearing "Made in India" marks were found by Pakistani defence forces in Balochistan thus indicting Indian agencies for fomenting trouble in that region. It brought a smile on my face. If only our agencies were as good as Pakistan claims them to be . In that case, not a single instance of terror would have unfolded in our country. And if India had such quality in terms of arms manufacture then we wouldn't need to procure them from every possible part of the world. The terrorism and unrest in Pakistan has been home grown and if India would really be giving away arms then it would at least be giving away arms with foreign markings like Pakistan has sent Arges hand grenades for various attacks in India. May be India helped LTTE but never were they found with arms "Made in India."
May be world wants us to talk to Pakistan but is the world facing the kind of threat that we are. Do they realize that while we talk to them, they use that time to hatch a new controversy. Didn't Kargil happen right after Vajpayee's visit to Pakistan. Weren't we talking then. US can even afford to talk to Taliban but we can't talk to Pakistan. Our enemy is right at our doorstep. We share our borders with them. They don't and that's why come up with weird concepts like "moderate" Taliban. We cannot afford to fall into that trap where we know that the conspirators of Kargil either held position in power at the time of the war or later on went on to become president.
The whole idea of talks should be taken up only after both parties work at same level. We cannot be talking to them while knowing what they are capable of doing. They are back stabbers and we should know it by now and let the world know it too.
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Shailendra Mohan is a Principal Correspondent who has been with NDTV for four years. He has worked in the field for over seven years. Shailendra covers city happenings and crime stories and has a keen interest in news and happenings around the world.
