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Even as India struggles to grapple with General Pervez Musharraf's admission made in his televised speech on January 12th that Kashmir runs in his and every fellow Pakistani's blood and that Pakistan will continue giving moral and diplomatic support to Kashmir the ghost of Hitler returns back to haunt the whole of South Asia as it confronts the seven decade old question. The December 13th terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament has added a dangerous dimension to the over half-a-century old rivalry between the two neighbors, with threat of nuclear war looking more real now than ever before.
In a fast-paced development, in the aftermath of the attack, a strong military buildup on the border supported by sabrerattling between the two sides saw an unprecedented rise in the tension in the region. Worsening it further, diplomatic offensive by India had literally dealt a bloody blow to the already fragile relationship between the two countries. Increased war of words had the two sides at once on the edge of war.
Although the tension appears to have receded now, especially after the General's historic speech and the diplomatic efforts taken by the US in persuading the two countries to give up war talks, there has been no let up in the military buildup at the border. In a volatile atmosphere like this, what is more worrisome is the situation on the economic front. The fact of the matter is that the economic scenario in the two countries paints a rather bleak picture. And that certainly cannot be described as a comfortable situation for the two countries, already ranked among the poorest nations in the world.
In a region like South Asia, which is host to two-fifths of the world's absolute poor, surviving on less than a dollar a day, where nearly two-thirds of the population is deprived of even the basic human capabilities, and where the illiteracy rate is as high as 50 percent, war cannot be even the last point on the agenda of the governments. With such a bleak economic background, a reality check should certainly be the topmost agenda for the two major countries from the region before war rhetoric, and perhaps danger of it, is given any further momentum.
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