Pakistan's basic objective of this exercise stems from the larger objective of ultimately destabilising India and separating Kashmir from it. This includes the military objectives of isolating Ladakh and changing the LoC on their favour which according to them, has been `demarcated but not delineated' on the ground so that they are in a commanding position to dominate the Kashmir Valley and make it almost impossible in the future for us to defend effectively. The political objective is to refocus the waning international attention on Kashmir.

Nuclear conflict did not materialise. Hopes that the West would intervene directly in the belief that a situation existed where the worst fears of a nuclear war will come true failed to take shape. This would have been followed, Pakistan had hoped with the revival of UN jurisdiction overKashmir which India would have had to accept under pressure. How should India deal with this kind of a situation not recurring in the future? What steps should we take nationally and internationally? In the short run the conflict has been resolved by getting rid of the intruders.

It did not need Rafsanjani of Iran to tell us that the more India and Pakistan fought with each other, the more they will be used and abused by the international community. Pakistan is immune to this thinking and this should by now have been quite clear to Indian strategists. It is time to realise once and for all that we have an enemy for life. A very motivated, single-minded, cunning enemy which should not be underestimated. The last 50 years are witness to this.

Pakistan has been smarting for revenge since it was defeated in 1971. There have been other smaller defeats which have added to this feeling. In all this, perhaps the most irresponsible has been the government-controlled Pakistani press which has since 1947 created anatmosphere of distrust and lopsided thinking among its people. In particular, after 1971, it has fuelled feelings of hatred and revenge. Pakistan television has become even more vicious after Prime Minister Vajpayee's bus ride.

The desire to have Kashmir and to defeat India is so great that there appears no scope for rational thought. It is a myth to say that while the army and the government are against India, the common man wants friendship with India. Yes, they do want friendship provided Kashmir is given to them first.

It is our failure to realise this deep enmity and take everything the Pakistani government said at face value that has resulted in the kind of predicament we find ourselves in. We are quite correctly regarded by them as a soft target. Our record in combating subversion from their side is pathetic.

Our response time to externally-sponsored subversion and clandestine war has been ludicrously long. We only seem to react to every enemy action, there being no appearance of forwardplanning. This has made the Pakistan establishment take us for granted for a long time.

Some of our westernised elite's excessive social interaction with Pakistanis gives further evidence of our weakness. We should realise that every time we generously extend our hand in friendship either at the government or personal level, we are regarded as being stupid and gullible and subject to ridicule. It is time that our leaders stopped thinking of the possibility of a normal and responsible relationship with Pakistan.

It goes without saying that we should, with greater resolve, improve both the security and economic conditions of the Kashmiri people. The government should be properly answerable to the Parliament and the people on this vital issue-given our past failures. It would be a first step to reclaiming the lost affections of the Kashmiri people.

Internationally it is vital to win the public relations battle to convince the US and others of Pakistani ambitions on Kashmir. A concomitant to this and anabsolute must is the winning over of the western press and media in order to make them more fair and balanced to their reporting. It should not be too difficult to show that Pakistan has not been in the least interested in the welfare of the Kashmiri people.

It is necessary to point to its suppression of human rights, its relationship with fundamentalist and terrorist organisations and indeed the fact that it is a terrorist state which has helped in the ethnic cleansing of Buddhists and Hindus from the state of Kashmir; the fact that it is not in the least interested in peace, that it has friendship, indeed close nuclear cooperation with states like North Korea etc, it is also time to ensure that Pakistan and India are not spoken of in the same breadth or as equals in any sense. How can a vibrant democracy with a healthy economy be spoken of on par with a brutal and bankrupt dictatorship?

In the long-term there is no substitute for military power. Some lessons may have to be learnt from China as to how tobecome an economic power which alone will sustain superior military strength.

It is time we put all our intellectual and other resources into this task, concentrate on infrastructure development and allow, with confidence, the free flow of foreign direct investment into these channels -without sacrificing our independence; reduce the role of government to one of being supportive to industry and unleash, through appropriate measures, the great entrepreneurial spirit of the Indian people.

A bitter and healthier economy will mean more employment and more resources which could be profitably deployed to create opportunities in border areas like Kashmir and thus make progress in winning back the hearts of the people.Once this is done, India will be abler to negotiate from strength, will have more friends in the international arena and will lose its fear and preoccupation with internationalising Kashmir.

We will then be able to achieve our objective which is sufficient respect on the part of the Pakistanisresulting directly from our strength, so that we are never taken for granted again. Friendship can follow if necessary.

The author is managing director of On Trak Commodities and the views expressed are his own