Trade embargo on Pak not a solution
December 30th 2008 03:51
The leader of the leading opposition party in India has called for trade embargo against Paksitan but this would be the a wrong step to take. Rajnath Singh is wrong a trade embargo with Pakistan is not the answer. It is exactly what the enemies of India want for they will step into the vacuum.
The word of physics, the world of commerce and the world of national security is very different. For a student of physics the world is governed by Newtons Third Law. Here every action has an opposite and equal reaction sometimes the desired reaction, like applying pressure on the gas pedal of a car leads to acceleration. But this law does not form the basic premise for controlling reactions when it comes to trade or security.
Rajnath Singh is a very seasoned politician and a student of science. He is highly respected in the journalistic community. However for once I would say that Rajnath is worng. A trade embargo on Pakistan is exactly what the enemies of India want. By enemies I do not mean that they are indulging in any hot or shooting war against us but they seek a larger place for themselves in the international trade arena.
However to get back to Rajnath. The Bharatiya Janata Party president has called for the US and India to jointly impose economic sanctions on Pakistan. Advocating decisive action against Pakistan, he said every terrorist act in India could be traced back to Pakistan. However, Pakistan was not helping India to solve the issue and had not even implement the U.N. Security Council’s ban on the Jamat-ud-Dawah effectively. Since the terrorists came from the sea, Mr. Singh said India should also think of a naval blockade.
Had Rajnath been a student of history and political science he would never have advocated a ban on Pakistan. Given Pakistan’s proximity to other nations apart from India this will be detrimental to India only. This is exactly what India’s neighbors want that they should be able to capture the Pakistani market and damage India’s economy in this era of global meltdown.
According to ASSOCHAM the Indo-Pak trade has already crossed the US $ 2 billion mark and is poised to reach up to $ 10 billion. In the event of a trade embargo in the US there are chances that several illegal trade routes and suppliers will begin operating in Pakistan and the only real sufferer will be the Indian economy. In case Rajnath Singh feels that I am wrong then let him analyze the attacks that have taken place in India.
They have all targeted one thing, the Indian economy. The attacks on Surat, Jaipur, Bangalore, Varanasi, Delhi and Mumbai are proof positive that someone wants to interrupt India’s economic growth for the emergence of a economic superpower in India will be a destabilizing force for everyone in the region. An economically strong India, the wide spread of Indian goods and services the globe over means the spread of Indian values too.
To begin with let us be clear. What is India? Have any of us actually been there despite having lived in India. It takes a prime minister to discover India, can we as ordinary Indian citizens do so? Is India a nation or an empire? If it is a nation then what is so unique about it?
India I firmly believe is the light. It stands out proudly in Asia as a champion of human rights and peoples liberty and is surrounded by fascist, imperialist, monarchist and totalitarian states where economic reforms and super industrial production go hand in hand with the total absence of labour laws. What can be more paradoxical? The poorer and less developed Indian people are actually the more advanced. Other Asian nations are not. The economy of Thailand may be thriving but it is a monarchy. Malaysia and Indonesia have witnessed bloody growth and the world has heard of the rise and fall of military dictatorships in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanamar still lives under the gun. We have also all heard of Tiananmen Square.
So I firmly believe that we are not poorer, we are richer because we believe in democracy, we believe in the individual and we believe in the Netas who feed us false promises about their belief in these values. The last, however, is our biggest weakness. Our Netas have exploited us in the name of religion, in the name of caste and regionalism. If we have to recover from the Mumbai attack and curb terrorism then Rajnathji the answer lies in India. We have to internalise and not externalise. We have to shun regionalism and casteism and readopt the spirit of nationalism which was our only weapon against the British. We have to rediscover India.
With due apologies Rajnathji India has to seize every opportunity to grow stronger today and I do not think a trade embargo with Pakistan is the answer.
The word of physics, the world of commerce and the world of national security is very different. For a student of physics the world is governed by Newtons Third Law. Here every action has an opposite and equal reaction sometimes the desired reaction, like applying pressure on the gas pedal of a car leads to acceleration. But this law does not form the basic premise for controlling reactions when it comes to trade or security.
However to get back to Rajnath. The Bharatiya Janata Party president has called for the US and India to jointly impose economic sanctions on Pakistan. Advocating decisive action against Pakistan, he said every terrorist act in India could be traced back to Pakistan. However, Pakistan was not helping India to solve the issue and had not even implement the U.N. Security Council’s ban on the Jamat-ud-Dawah effectively. Since the terrorists came from the sea, Mr. Singh said India should also think of a naval blockade.
Had Rajnath been a student of history and political science he would never have advocated a ban on Pakistan. Given Pakistan’s proximity to other nations apart from India this will be detrimental to India only. This is exactly what India’s neighbors want that they should be able to capture the Pakistani market and damage India’s economy in this era of global meltdown.
They have all targeted one thing, the Indian economy. The attacks on Surat, Jaipur, Bangalore, Varanasi, Delhi and Mumbai are proof positive that someone wants to interrupt India’s economic growth for the emergence of a economic superpower in India will be a destabilizing force for everyone in the region. An economically strong India, the wide spread of Indian goods and services the globe over means the spread of Indian values too.
To begin with let us be clear. What is India? Have any of us actually been there despite having lived in India. It takes a prime minister to discover India, can we as ordinary Indian citizens do so? Is India a nation or an empire? If it is a nation then what is so unique about it?
India I firmly believe is the light. It stands out proudly in Asia as a champion of human rights and peoples liberty and is surrounded by fascist, imperialist, monarchist and totalitarian states where economic reforms and super industrial production go hand in hand with the total absence of labour laws. What can be more paradoxical? The poorer and less developed Indian people are actually the more advanced. Other Asian nations are not. The economy of Thailand may be thriving but it is a monarchy. Malaysia and Indonesia have witnessed bloody growth and the world has heard of the rise and fall of military dictatorships in Pakistan, Bangladesh and Myanamar still lives under the gun. We have also all heard of Tiananmen Square.
So I firmly believe that we are not poorer, we are richer because we believe in democracy, we believe in the individual and we believe in the Netas who feed us false promises about their belief in these values. The last, however, is our biggest weakness. Our Netas have exploited us in the name of religion, in the name of caste and regionalism. If we have to recover from the Mumbai attack and curb terrorism then Rajnathji the answer lies in India. We have to internalise and not externalise. We have to shun regionalism and casteism and readopt the spirit of nationalism which was our only weapon against the British. We have to rediscover India.
With due apologies Rajnathji India has to seize every opportunity to grow stronger today and I do not think a trade embargo with Pakistan is the answer.
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