"Pakistan" the new buzzword!!!

While growing up, I saw Indian foreign policy overly concerned with getting "Kashmir" discussed in the world forums. There was a strange reluctance in Indian government to discuss Kashmir and the whole of Indian foreign policy effort was spent in making sure that Kashmir word is not spoken either at United Nations or in the bilateral talks. I remember the opposition parties making issues whenever any bigger power foreign minister uttering the word and the Indian foreign minister spending all his energy to convincing the country that there is no internationalization of Kashmir issue. The argument put forth was that Kashmir is not the issue but Pakistan is and the discussion shall be performed on how to stop the increasing islamisation of Pakistan and make it stable. But the top powers never listened and we kept on wailing. I found it demeaning the way the top powers treated India on this aspect and the use of Kashmir buzzword as a way to let Pakistan score points.

Now the situation has reversed. After September 11 and the ouster of Taliban from Afghanistan to Pakistan, we see Pakistan becoming the new buzzword. Being stuck with the television where the only watchable channels are CNN and BBC, I have observed the increased frequency of usage of Pakistan as the new hot spot of world problem other than Iran, Middle East and in some measures North Korea. The American President Mr. Obama has emphasized that the war in Afghanistan is the top priority and Pakistan-Afghanistan is the new axis of the same problem - Talibanisation. Gordon Brown also talked on similar lines when he visited Afghanistan and Pakistan in the last month. All the TV military experts and opinions (source: nytimes) are speaking in the same tone.

So now we have a situation where what Indian foreign policy wanted has been placed on their plate by the unfortunate circumstances. Kashmir has taken a backseat and Pakistan is the new flashpoint. It will be very interesting to see how the Indian foreign policy is shaped by this new circumstance. There has been talks of including India in any discussion on Afghanistan both by the White House and opinions in the print media. And now it is incumbent upon India to take the lead and take the seat of superpower in Indian subcontinent which it aspires to become.