The world's message to India and Pakistan is now that they are both nuclear powers, they must be responsible and restrained. India must be especially pleased by the US stand, which has reversed decades of tilting towards Pakistan. But while world opinion is clearly on India's side, we must be wary about reading too much into the professions of support. Other nations are going to take sides depending on their self-interest, and we must recognise this fact. For instance, while the recent thaw in Indo-Chinese relations is welcome, the fact remains that we are in many ways a competitor to China, whether it be for foreign investment or markets or for influence in Asia. And Pakistan will continue to provide China an effective counterweight to India. Similarly, while US may have tilted towardsthe Indian view of the Kargil conflict, its essential interest is to prevent the Talibanisation of Pakistan. It is only Russia with whom we seem to have a strategic fit, but the demise of Russian power has been sadly demonstrated by the Kosovo crisis. We must therefore discard the rose-tinted spectacles.

The basic problem is that enmity between India and Pakistan is enmity of two contrasting ideologies, one based on secularism, the other on sectarianism. Our interest would be to foster a more moderate regime in Pakistan, and one of the best ways to do that is to promote trade between the two nations. Commercial ties are often strong enough to overcome the most fundamental differences in ideology, as has been proved by US and China.