INDIA/PAKISTAN
As soon as the peace momentum between India and Pakistan picks up, expect a dastardly militant attack. The killing of innocents has come to reflect both
the strength and the vulnerability of the peace process: it shows that extremist groups feel so insecure about their political space that they are willing to engineer terrorist attacks, with an eye towards creating misunderstanding and derailing bilateral engagement. Unfortunately, they have often succeeded in their aim, most significantly after the attack on the Indian Parliament in 2001.
In the past few years, we have argued in these pages that the people and governments of India and Pakistan are on the same side, battling against radical violent outfits opposed to reason and moderation. It has not been a popular position, with many pointing to the deep-rooted conflict between the two countries. Some Indians claim that this school of thought ignores the reality of 'crossborder terrorism' supported by Islamabad, while many Pakistanis talk about the Indian reluctance to move on Kashmir as indicative of New Delhi's underlying motives.