The first engagement on the second day was a visit to meet with the Deputy National Security Advisor and her team. You'll have noted the use of the phrase 'her team' here, and I was impressed that former Ambassador to Thailand, Leela Ponappa, had been willing to met with us.
Naturally, issues related to infiltration across the line of control in Jammu and Kashmir were high on the agenda and, whilst we were repeatedly told that Pakistan was not the be all and end all of security policy, the question of Indo-Pak relations kept coming back again and again. Indian security policy requires that the Pakistani authorities prosecute those behind last year's attack on Mumbai, and take real action against Lashkar-e-Toiba, the terrorist organisation and formentor of cross-border attacks.
Of course, there are issues relating to China too. The unresolved border deliniation, and the increasing links between China and India's neighbours, particularly in Nepal and Myanmar, are of genuine concern, especially when linked to internal destabilisation caused by the Maoist Naxalites.
However, there is an increasing inbalance between military aid to Pakistan and that given to India. Prior to the end of the Cold War, Pakistan received support from the United States, roughly balanced by that given to India by the Soviet Union. Then, with the collapse of communism, that aid dried up. The war on terror changed that, and the recent $7.5 billion military aid package agreed between the United States and Pakistan risks heightening that imbalance yet further. To be blunt, it is broadly felt here that much of that money will end up in the hands of groups hostile to India or, worse still, in the hands of those forces in Afghanistan fighting the NATO alliance there.
The Congress administration in New Delhi will doubtless target some additional funding towards defence spending, and today's 'Times of India' reports the announced purchase of three hundred light tanks for deployment in mountainous regions of Jammu & Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam, as well as 29 new MiG-29K aircraft for the Indian Navy. However, the fight against poverty, and the need to overhaul aging infrastructure, are competing for those funds.
India is seen to be a bastion of stability in the region, and ironically, this probably contributes to a sense that it can be neglected. And yet, it is surrounded by mostly small states who accept a degree of hegemony because, like the dinosaurs were, it is big. That cannot be said of either Pakistan and China, and perhaps we need to be more alert to the problems faced by a country far more recognisable in terms of structure, far more akin in terms of culture, then either of the other two. One day, we might be sheltering under the wing of an Indian superpower rather than an American one.
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