April 16, 2005
 

Musharraf's visit to India: The dictator has landed

The red carpet has been rolled out for Musharraf's tour of India. He landed at Jaipur, just across the border, and his first act was a pilgrimage to Ajmer, where he visited Khwaja Moinuddin Chisti's tomb. The way so many Pakistani politicians are flocking to the shrine, I wouldn't be surprised if Pakistan laid claim to that place as well.

He prayed for peace between India and Pakistan and later went to Delhi where he had dinner with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. He and Dr. Singh will watch the final one-dayer at the Kotla tomorrow. I hope he doesnt set foot in Rajghat!

Recently, he spoke about the humble metallurgist and how nuclear proliferation wasn't a big deal since it was unlikely that terrorists could actually make a bomb. So its ok to spread atomic weapon knowledge around, as long as the other chaps dont make use of it? A bit like saying its ok to steal as long as you dont get caught.

He also spoke about the irreversible nature of the peace process but cautioned against relying only on "Confidence Building Measures" (CBMs) such as the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus. He might as well have put in a corny quote I came up with today: "We need CBMs, not ICBMs".

Labels: musharraf, pakistan