January 06, 2004
From the desk of Jane Galt:Department of Good News
India and Pakistan are agreeing to hold peace talks. Good for Indian prime minister Vajpayee, who has resisted considerable political pressure from hardliners in his Hindu-nationalist BJP party (a task admittedly made much easier by the political goodwill generated by a booming economy.) And double good for Pakistani President Musharaf, who is resisting even tougher pressure from hardliners in his country, who have recently taken to expressing their disagreement with his policies by trying to kill him. Let's hope this actually goes somewhere. It'd be a nice start to the new year.
Posted by Jane Galt at January 6, 2004 11:21 AM | TrackBack | Technorati inbound linksBJP is as Hindu nationalistic as the Republican party is Christian Right.
Peace talks are good for the world, but I'm not sure they are good for Musharraf. They may just put another nail in his coffin, as far as his would-be assassins are concerned.
Posted by: Jim on January 6, 2004 05:46 PMIf something is bad for Musharraf, is it really good for the world? Who is likely to replace Musharraf?
Posted by: Katherine on January 7, 2004 12:10 PMIndia/Pakistan peace initiatives are a dime-a-dozen. Don't hold your breath. It all ultimately depends on Pakistan withdrawing support for terrorism and withdrawing troops from "Azad" Kashmir, and India allowing a plebescite, all of which has about the chance of a snowball in hell.
Posted by: Amitava Mazumdar on January 7, 2004 04:35 PM"BJP is as Hindu nationalistic as the Republican party is Christian Right."
Oh please! We Republicans are not monolithic. Anymore than Democrats are anti-war appeasers of terrorism?
Posted by: Donnel on January 9, 2004 07:05 AMI understood Vidya's comment to mean that the BJP is not made up entirely of Hindu nationalists any more than the Republican party is made up entirely of religious fundamentalists...
Posted by: Katherine on January 9, 2004 12:52 PMComments are Closed.