The de-hyphenation of India-Pakistan

I don’t agree with this Af-Pak solution at all because we are being bracketed with Afghanistan. Afghanistan hardly has any governance, it is out of control. And also, there is extremism within India among the Muslim youth and it is developing linkages with others — the Kashmir issue too. Therefore, if we want to finally deal with terrorism and extremism and solve it in its short-term and long-term perspective, we have to look at events in India, Pakistan and Afghanistan. I am totally against this Af-Pak strategy. (via 'Kashmir solution can reduce extremism in Pak society').

Pleasures of growing up

A few decades earlier, India-Pakistan sporting encounters were most awaited by sports enthusiasts. India-Pakistan cricket now comes lower down - and the position has been taken up India-Australia cricket series. Now Pakistan is asking David Morgan, from the ICC to 'intervene' and"to convince the BCCI to play a series in England" against Pakistan.

In the 60s-80s, Indian business publications, Indian bureaucracy indexed themselves with Pakistan. Sensex, the Indian stock index was then compared with the Karachi index. But the comparison is now with global markets and the US.

Then and now

The Indian economy is now compared with the Chinese economy, ASEAN, EU and the US economies. The Indian film industry, compares itself with Hollywood - unfortunately, in terms of becoming a Hollywood clone. India must now work to jettison some colonial detritus, its diplomacy must get over its Pakistan Fixation - and manage the Chinese relationship.

There are two aspects of this 'development that has not fully dawned on Indians, which needs greater introspection in India. One is the 'Western clone' status - which, for instance, is what some 'leading lights' of the Indian film industry want to be. The second is danger of becoming an 'arrivista' - the danger of hubris.

Hard landing for Pakistan

Obviously, this growing up is something that has dawned on Pakistan - as a 'hard imprint' rather than a 'soft copy'. Fancying themselves as an equal till a few decades ago, Pakistan had to endure a hard landing.

And this hard landing is Musharraf's real problem - as this interview reveals.

India to take up fake currency note issue at global fora – India – NEWS – The Times of India

With a number of states reporting huge seizures of fake Indian currency notes (FICNs), India will soon take up the issue at global fora, like Interpol, in a big way and will also ask some European countries to keep a watch on importers of currency-standard printing paper and ink to Pakistan -- the country which New Delhi suspects as the base of printing and circulation of FICNs.

Although the role of Pakistani intelligence agency ISI in printing and circulation of FICN has never been a secret, sleuths of the Indian agencies found that the agency had, of late, impressed upon the government in Islamabad to import additional currency-standard printing paper and ink from companies located in UK, Sweden and Switzerland to pursue its nefarious designs in India. (via India to take up fake currency note issue at global fora - India - NEWS - The Times of India).

On September 10, 2008

The 2ndlook post on Terrorists And Counterfeit Indian Currency analyzed this situation. And laid out a logic for addressing this problem in a very simple manner.

Why Indian currency

The counterfeiting of US dollars is understandable. It is the world’s largest currency – and most acceptable. The GBP or the Euro are also reasonable targets for counterfeiting activity. Even counterfeiting the Canadian dollar!

But, the most unlikely target is the Indian Rupee! India is a small, poor economy, (at least, till about 5 years ago). India does not have capital convertibility either. So, this huge counterfeiting operation raises more questions. Is this counterfeiting related to India’s Gold reserves?

Less than 12 suppliers

The entire currency and security-grade printing is dominated by less than a dozen companies. These companies will not dare to support ‘counterfeiting’ operations – unless there is official cover or support given to them, by their respective Governments.

Now, this small clutch of currency businesses makes it simple to track the source of inks, paper, dies, plates – which can be identified by a simple spectroscopic examination. The cost of this entire examination will be far lesser than the amount of money (not fake FICN) that the Indian Government spends on fighting terror.

This is good news. The Indian Government is working on the right track. We can lick this problem.