Disturbed Neighbours Make Us Disturbed

A weak and troubled neighbor is always hindrance to a country’s progress and peace. India, for instance, has such neighbours facing perennial internal strife. Be it Pakistan, Nepal or Sri Lanka, the problems in these countries have always had its impact on India. We lost a national leader to the internal squabbles of Sri Lanka; we lost a part of Kashmir and few thousands of lives due to Pakistan’s support to militancy in Kashmir; and about Nepal and Bangladesh, the influx of illegal immigrants causing social-economic problems besides posing serious threat to the safety and security of India.

Now, reports emanating from Pakistan suggest that the Islamic nation is moving towards a military coup. Pakistan's government looks dangerously isolated in a fresh confrontation with the country's powerful military that analysts say could, at the very least, end in early elections.

The army erupted in fury on Wednesday over criticism from Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani concerning a commission probing the "Memogate" scandal -- the bizarre and highly controversial case of an unsigned memo sent to the US military to seek its help in weakening Pakistan's military.
The memo has pitted the army against President Asif Ali Zardari's weak civilian administration, and the Supreme Court is now tasked with deciding if the government endorsed the note, and if so, if it can remain in power.

Possibly as a last nail in the coffin, the government on Wednesday sacked the defence secretary Naeem Khalid Lodhi -- considered more loyal to the military (head) than to the civil leadership. The move has brought the fore the fear of yet another coup. Pakistan has been under military dictatorships for about half its history since independence in 1947, its civilian leaders thrown out in three coups.

The government has been cornered ever since the ‘mamogate’ surfaced and with Pakistan’s strong military and Supreme Court taking on the government separately, the survival of the Gilani’s civil government seems to be bleak. With political instability in Pakistan, India should be extra cautious as any military coup would make the military more powerful and bring their hands close to the weapons of mass destructions.