Yesterday American F-15 jet fighters and B-1 bombers dropped bombs on a Pakistani Frontier Corps checkpoint killing soldiers and thus escalating the tensions between the “allies” in the war on terror. A study by RAND Corp had warned few days back that Pakistani intelligence agents and paramilitary have been aiding Taliban in attacking the Americans. The Pakistanis, used to applying this design pattern in the Kashmir border, thought the response would be a threatening letter or in the worst case scenario, a speech from Karzai, but instead found strong retaliation.
Such an asymmetric warfare happened in Kerala too.It all started with the State Women’s Commission asking the Government to make sure that girls below 18 are not forcibly enrolled as nuns. The Church was furious. The Congress said that the government had no role in managing religious beliefs. The chairperson of the Commission was asked to quit. After lot of noise, the Commission has decided to go “soft” on the issue for no one expected that F-16s and B-1s would be seen on the horizon.
Last year the Communists desperately wanted to get singer KJ Yesudas inside Guruvayoor temple. One minister, Sudharakan, wanted women to have darshan at Sabarimala. Both issues, at this moment, go against Hindu beliefs. (Reforms are required and it is for Hindu priests and religious authorities to decide). At that time we did not see sanctimonious lectures from the Congress Party on the need to stay away from religious beliefs. Maybe Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala was busy helping Rajasekhar Reddy decide if Ahmadiyas are Muslims or not.
In the version of secularism practiced by Indian Govt. there is the Durand Line and the Line of Control. The Line of Control is like a tourist spot; anyone can walk in, urinate, and walk away. But the Durand Line is the Lakshama Rekha. If you do tourism there, as Rajiv Gandhi succintly put it, “naani yaad aayegi“.