Alms Race: The Subcontinent of Sub Saharan Asia
March 1996
Tired of the Bickering. The Rand Corporation, the conservative US think tank, too, thinks that the India-Pakistan enmity is costly. Rand staffer George Tanham, in an article in The International Herald Tribune, writes that the tension and conflict between the two bring heavy costs, tangible and intangible, to both countries. India spends about 2.5 percent of its gross domestic product on defence, he writes, and Pakistan 7.5 percent. In 1994, Indian military spending was USD 7.3 billion, Pakistan´s USD 3.4 billion. However, Pakistan´s army and air force are about half the size of India´s. The intangible costs of the conflict, writes Tanham, "may be even greater than the actual financial costs of military spending." He adds, "The bitter conflict between India and Pakistan hurts their standing in much of the rest of the world which is tired fo the constant feuding and bickering."
How To Lose Friends and Win Enemies
March 1996
Building Up Imran. Advice given by columnist M.A. Said in the Islamabad Nation to former cricketer and Bhutto nemesis Imran Khan, now that he has declared his political ambitions. 1) His public statements should be the outcome of knowledgeable and well-advised briefings by professionals. 2) He needs to jettison embarrassing associations from among the coterie of "defunct socialist and fundo politicians, ex-Generals with messiah complexes, loan-defaulting businessmen and sundry bureaucrats". 3) Give top priority to a comprehensive economic policy as the corner stone of his political agenda. A lack of an economic agenda would translate into political demise. 4) Identify target electorates, and develop appropriate slogans that are "pithy, hard-hitting and sincere". 5) Because administrative goodwill is a prerequisite for a successful political career, bureaucrats must know that they will be respected, adequately paid, and empowered to work without fear or favour under an Imran government. 6) Imran will need adequate media support, but the government is going to try and torpedo his plans each step of the way. "At the very best, he may need to buy a paper."
The BJP´s Neighbourhood
March 1996
Party Confirms Poll strategy. The Bharatiya Janata Party, as expected, has decided to rely on the "Ram Mandir" card
in the poll campaign. The last couple of years had seen the party trying to go beyond the one-issue (Hindutva) image that had brought it to national prominence, and its emerging plank had been of cleanliness and probity of its leadership (as compared, primarily, to the Congress party). The party has had to abandon this strategy, with the implication of its president L.K. Advani in the bribery scandal known as Hawala, and now has decided to go back to its old standby, the Hindutva theme. According to Indian news sources, the principal campaign themes that the BJP plans to utilise in the run-up to the April-May general elections include: continued commitment to construction of a Ram temple in Ayodhya (where the Babri Masjid stood), projection of Atal Behari Vajyapee as prime ministerial candidate, national security, and "the plight of farmers".
Gandhian Maoists vs Nehruvian Stalinists
March 1996