The realist Imperative

I fail to see the logic of this argument. What is Mr. Tripathi trying to tell us ? That gloating (personally i do not have time to indulge in such childishness) over the self imposed terrorism of Pakistan is as big a crime as the act of terrorism in which a hardened criminal kills innocent babies and women whom he does not even know . It is this kind of mushy thinking that has reduced India to an ignorable cipher on the world scene and encourages mediocrities like President Sarkoszy of France to lecture us from an imaginary moral high ground.

Let us face facts. The facts are that Pakistan is a formidable enemy that has never reconciled itself to the loss of what was once Dar ul Islam and does not let an oportunity pass by to remind us that they do not consider India a nation state. The fact that ordinary Pakistanis do not subscribe to extremism (I should hope not that is a minimum that one should expect from a nation and a people if they wish to be regarded as a member of the civlized world), as a rationale for excusing that nation is an incredibly naive statement.
I am reminded of the Patrician Roman senator Cato (234 BC, Tusculum–149 BC) aka Cato the elder. According to Appian, the historian. Senator Cato usually finished his speeches on any subject in the Senate with the phrase ceterum censeo Carthaginem esse delendam, which means "Furthermore, it is my opinion that Carthage must be destroyed".
He was opposed by senator Publius Cornelius Scipio Nasica Corculum,who favoured a different course, one that would not destroy Carthage,and who usually convinced the Senate.
We should be far more sophisticated than the Roman Empire and I do not recommend that Pakistan be obliterated, simply that it be emasculated by dividing into four parts (Baluch, Sindh, the Punjab and Pushtoland) and defang it of its weapons. It is important to see this as a major problem of India, in the clearest possible terms, and adopt a realist imperative, that would emulate Shri Krishna or Kautilya. Furthermore this is not something India should palm off on others to do. The Indians must take the responsibility of ensuring their own security unilaterally, or it will never get done.
http://www.livemint.com/2009/03/04215728/Pakistan-an-ordinary-nation....
That’s the universe many Pakistanis inhabit—caught between intransigent generals, incompetent politicians and intolerant mullahs. They don’t need reminding what terrorism is; they live with it. They have lost thousands of civilians and soldiers in the past decade. They live with the consequences of cynical, cold, political choices and compromises their leaders have made on their behalf.
.. And yet, many in India don’t see that reality, and see all Pakistanis > as extremists, as if all of them accept at face value the rants of
Zahid Hamid on Pakistani television—who believes everything that’s evil is because of “Hindu Zionist” conspiracy. We must then learn to separate that sinister fringe from the Pakistani men and women who don’t believe in juvenile jihadis. We must not succumb to the idea—as Simi Garewal momentarily did (though she was hardly alone) —that if only we bomb Pakistan, all problems will be solved. Starting a war is a not a choice as easy as sending a “Yes” SMS to a television channel desperate to improve ratings, and which wants politicians to announce foreign policy manoeuvres on live television. It also means we must prevent our own saffron Taliban, which wants to empty our bookshops of Pakistani writers, and prevent Pakistani artists from performing in our theatres, the heartland of the Indogangetic plain.