Arjun Mk.2 Approved

Finally, there was official army confirmation of the news that most well-informed insiders knew -
the Arjun Mk.2 will be developed. This was confirmed by the Army Chief during the 3-day AFV meet that is being organized by the Army in New Delhi. The short report from Zee News is scant on details, but I'll try and fill you in.

http://www.bharat-rakshak.com/NEWS/newsrf.php?newsid=9608

Army okays development of Arjun Mark II tanks

New Delhi, Nov 13: The army on Tuesday gave the go-ahead for developing next generation indigenous battle tanks after a successful run of the original model Arjun.

Based on its experience in designing the Arjun MBTs, the DRDO was coming up with a lighter and more versatile version called Arjun MK-II which is expected to meet future needs, Army chief General Deepak Kapoor told an international seminar on Armoured Fighting Vehicles here.

Defence scientists are also working on the Tank X project comprising features of Arjun and Russian-supplied T-72 tanks.

The function organised by the CII was presided over by Minister of State for Defence Rao Inderjit Singh, who asked Indian companies to invest and participate more in production of weapons systems.

Bureau Report

Some more details from IDRW.org report:

http://www.idrw.org/2007/11/13/indian_army_seeks_next_generation_battle_tank.html

Indian Army seeks next generation battle tank

The Indian Army has sought a new generation main battle tank (MBT) even as it reluctantly prepares to receive the homegrown Arjun tank that has been over three decades in the making.

'What we have today is mid-level technology. What we need is a tank of international quality,' Indian Army chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor said Tuesday.

'I have no doubt that the DRDO (Defence Research and Development Organisation) will be able to develop indigenous capabilities for coming up with a better answer and more versatile armoured fighting vehicle (than Arjun) in the future,' he added while speaking at the inaugural session of an international seminar on Armoured Fighting Vehicles, the first to be held here.

Kapoor also called for synergy between scientists, users and producers to ensure the delivery of a cutting-edge-technology tank.

'The scientists cannot work in isolation. The users (the army) should be with them. So also should the producers, be they the public sector undertakings or private players. Only then will we see an indigenous armoured fighting vehicle of international quality,' the army chief maintained.

Now, the Arjun Mk.1 never really found many supporters in the Army, many of whom were angry at the long gestation period and the constant problems. While the Arjun was, in theory, an excellent tank, it used a mish-mash of indigenous and foreign components, many tailor-developed for the Arjun. Obviously, with such high technology and the inexperience of scientists in the field use of these systems (not helped by the Army, which kept pushing Trial dates), the systems performed exceptionally well in the labs, but tanked in the Field.

But in the past two years, especially after the 2005 trials where the Army gave a clear to-do list to DRDO, these problems were systematically solved, and DRDO commenced a war-footing overhaul and repair work on the systems. Most of the problems were ironed out, and a grueling internal testing of the Arjun, which performed well. These efforts finally turned a corner a few months before exercise Ashwamedh, which was held in April this year.

Truly confident of their product, the DRDO was ready for user trials, but the Army wasn't. In a coup of sorts, the DRDO bulldozed the MoD and Army into including fifteen Arjuns in the large scale war games. The games, held in the hot Thar summer, also gave the Arjun an opportunity to show its new self, and its performance in heat, something that had caused it problems aplenty in previous trials. Less than pleased, there was nothing else for the Army to do but obey the Raksha Mantri's diktat. The results were clear. Arjun outgunned the Ajeyas and T-90s. The T-90s were beset with problems, many of them the same problems that had afflicted the Arjuns not so long ago- Suspension issues, Fire Control System Failures, and frequent stoppages.

In light of this new look Arjun, both DRDO and MoD were agitating for comparative trials, something that even the Army had, till a few months before, had been insisting upon. Suddenly, as the T-90s looked shaky, the Army got cold feet- after many postponements and delays, the Army finally cancelled the trails altogether, instead replacing them with an AUCRT, which should theoretically bring the Arjun into full scale service. But considering the Army's reactions, that seems doubtful.

But the message that the Army was getting was clear- the Arjun is world-class material, and with a little tweaking, could do a world of good. Plus, it would be foolish to rely on the T-90, a series whose development is reaching a plateau. After all, a small, light tank can only do so much. Plus, the T-90 is far worse protected than the Arjun, something that gives it a weight advantage, but at the cost of certain death to the crew in any conflict involving even moderately successful ATGMs. The T-90 would be hard-pressed against the newer tanks that will enter service around the world in a few years- the M1A2, Korean XK-2 and Al-Khalid upgrades, which will outgun the T-90. This, along with a need to expand the Armored Corps, led the Army to the revelation that it will need a modern tank in the future. There is a requirement for almost 3000 tanks to replace the old T-72s and Vijayanta tanks.

The Army has formulated a requirement, GSQR 2020, which will spell out the needs for a modern tank to be in service by 2020. This will be released to DRDO soon, and its clear that the Modernized Arjun, a Mk.2 variant will be able to fit the requirement. This will give the Army a fleet of Arjun Mk.2s and T-90s, a stable that echoes the WW2 style of different tank classes- Infantry and Cruiser Tanks.

The only question is, what name will the new tank be given? I have a suggestion- Abhimanyu.

The Pakistan Army: A failing Force

Here's a piece I did for Frontier India (Wikipedia Page) today. I'm posting the first few paras. Check out the full story at http://frontierindia.net/pakistan-army-a-failing-force/.

Pakistan Army: A Failing Force

Pakistan has always been on a razor’s edge, torn between its identity as a moderate Islamic democracy that Jinnah had envisioned, and an unstable state that has seen repeated Military rule. But politicians and soldiers have always stood together on one issue- the unquestioning policy of state-sponsored terrorism. This support hasn’t abated even when Pakistan’s very existence has been threatened. But now, that policy is boomeranging on its creators, proved by the events of the last one year.

Pakistani officers joke about how the million- strong Indian Army couldn’t even stop terrorists. As they get more hopelessly bogged down in the mess called Waziristan, it probably doesn’t sound so funny any more. Today, the Pakistani Army stands battered by the very terrorists it created. Over a hundred soldiers have been captured and many more have died fighting a menace that they created. Fifteen Brigades have been moved to these areas from the Indian border, including Skardu and Mangla, an action that speaks volumes about the seriousness of the situation and the ineffectiveness of Pakistani actions in the NWFP. Morale is low, desertions are rampant, and suicide attacks on Army installations have been devastatingly successful.

In every major engagement that they’ve been involved in, the Pakistan Army has lost ground. As professional as it purports itself to be, there is not a single war that the Pakistani Army has won in its history of existence. Failure and defeat seem to come naturally. And yet, it seems almost dyslexic in its inability to learn from its mistakes. The wars with India never went their way. They were able to temporarily pacify the Baluch problem, but the brutality with which they accomplished it has ensured that the problem remains. It has faced defeat after defeat against the fiery Pashtun tribesmen in Waziristan, and it’s only a matter of time before the issue threatens the very existence of Pakistan.

The first war was soon after the formation of Pakistan. Breaking the standstill agreement, the Army launched an attack on the Independent State of Jammu and Kashmir in 1947. Even with the element of surprise and a head start, they were beaten back and Pakistan lost the prime real estate of Jammu and Kashmir Valleys to India. Pakistan’s second attempt at ‘liberation’, the 1965 war, fared no better. Not only did they receive no support from the local populace, but lost vital territory to the Indian Armed Forces, a force they had dismissed as weak and beaten after the 1962 loss. If not for the goodwill of Lal Bahadur Shastri, and the compulsions of International politics, India would have captured Lahore and destroyed much of the Pakistani Army.

The third war was an unmitigated disaster that even the most enthusiastic Pakistanis cannot deny. The beleaguered forces in the East had no chance against an army advancing from three sides upon it, but their collapse and the speed of the Indian advance surprised all. Boxed in, the Pakistani Army launched attacks on the western front, hoping to gain territory that they could barter later. But even that effort met its doom, beaten and destroyed by Indian forces far smaller than the Pakistani’s. Yet again, they were saved by American intervention and Indian magnanimity. 93,000 troops surrendered, shattering the morale of the Force and the nation, a disgrace that they’ve tried hard to whitewash.

By then, the cracks within were starting to show..... (read more)

India steps up production of Prithvi and BrahMos

This interesting report from Times of India caught my eye:

With Pakistan rapidly moving towards enlarging its missile arsenal with China’s help, India is slowly but steadily stepping up production of Prithvi surface-to-surface ballistic missiles, as well as BrahMos supersonic cruise missiles. Sources said facilities were now in place to produce around 20 Prithvi missiles every year, while the annual production rate of BrahMos missiles is geared towards touching 50 in the near future.

In 2006-2007, for instance, Hyderabad-based defence PSU Bharat Dynamics Limited for the first time managed to produce 15 full-fledged Prithvi missiles and four training missiles, apart from 18 warheads, said sources. While different Prithvi variants have strike ranges varying from 150-km to 350-km, the BrahMos missile developed with Russia can hit targets over 290-km away.

"Similar plans to step up production of the strategic missiles (700-km Agni-I and 2,000-km-plus Agni-II ballistic missiles) are in the pipeline," said a source.

While Army has had its 150-km Prithvi-I missiles for some years now, IAF and Navy operationalised their longer-range variants of the same missile recently. Navy, for instance, is weaponising its Sukanya-class large patrol crafts with Prithvi’s ‘Dhanush’ variant, which has a strike range of 250-km to 350-km. IAF, in turn, has started moving its Prithvi-II missile squadrons from Hyderabad to some airbases closer to the western front.

As for the air-breathing BrahMos missiles, which fly at a speed of 2.8 Mach, Navy was the first service to equip its frontline warships like Rajput-class destroyers with their vertical launch systems. The Army, which already has missile groups to handle Prithvi, Agni-I and Agni-II, is now also operationalising BrahMos land-attack cruise missiles (LACMs) as its "precision strike weapon."

Work on BrahMos’ air-launched version for Sukhoi-30MKI multi-role fighters, however, had been hit by delays. Consequently, this missile will be integrated with the naval IL-38 maritime patrol aircraft as the first step.

Incidentally, Pakistan tested a new air-launched 350-km range cruise missile, ‘Hatf-8’ or ‘Thunder’, a couple of months ago. Moreover, its ‘Babur’ cruise missile, said to be capable of carrying nuclear warheads to 500 km, is already on course for large-scale induction. Indian defence scientists, too, are working on a wide array of missile programmes, which interestingly also include submarine-launched versions of both Prithvi (K-15) and BrahMos missiles.

The Agni-III missile, with a 3,500-km strike range meant for China, will be ready by 2010 after a few more tests. Then an advanced 5,000-km range Agni missile, with a third mini-stage being added to the two-stage Agni-III, is also on the anvil.

Similarly, work is also in progress to develop submarine-launched cruise and ballistic missiles under the ‘Sagarika’ project to complete India’s ‘nuclear triad’ — the ability to fire nuclear-tipped missiles from the air, land and sea.

DRDO develops Micro-UAV

Here's a report from the Khaleej Times that caught my eye (Link1, Link2) about DRDO developing a new Micro-UAV:

DRDO develops tiny spy gadget
(IANS)
28 October 2007

AGRA — Indian scientists have developed a tiny gadget that can keep an eye on enemy territory and help in traffic management.

The details of the device were disclosed at the first national flying competition of Micro Aerial Vehicles (MICAV) at the Aerial Delivery Research and Development Establishment (ADRDE) of DRDO here.

Lt. Gen. V.J. Sundaram and Balraj Gupta of the DRDO, on Friday said the tiny unmanned device can remain in air for 15 to 20 minutes and send photographic data to computer networks. Soldiers on the borders can also use it to observe movements across enemy lines. Only 30 cm wide, the device looks like a bird to untrained eyes. It can survey an area of roughly one square kilometre from a height of 500 metres. It weighs about 400 gm and is powered by a rechargeable battery.

Sources said the actual production of the device could take as long as three years after a series of field trials and improvements from feedback were made available.

Agra will host an international MICAV competition in March 2008 in which teams from Japan, the US, France, Britain, Israel and some other countries are expected to participate. (Source)

One wonders why the Indian media haven't heard about this yet. Guess we'll be waiting for more information from DRDO.

Chemical Imbalance

The electronic media is at it again. This time, its India's chemical weapons arsenal. One general statement from Army Chief Gen. Deepak Kapoor, and Vishal Thapar has created a story out of thin air. This is pure sensationalism, or worse. Not only is the story full of holes and mistakes, but the basic premise itself is a fallacy. Here's why.

This is the report on CNN-IBN. (Story link). The video is embedded below:



To say that the report is full of holes would be an understatement of monumental proportions. What Thapar has done is to take a single sentence of Gen. Kapoor, remove the context, add unreferenced information, add his own conclusions, all cooked with a good bit of mirch masala to create a news story thats frivolous at best.

Firstly, India's Treaty obligations that was referred to is the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Its administered by an independent body, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (homepage). Its heartening to note that unlike other treaties, this is almost universally accepted, and has been ratified by 182 states (see list), and signed by another six.

Now, lets be clear. India's cache of Chemical weapons is no secret, contrary to Thapar's assertion. After ratifying the CWC in 1997, India has diligently fulfilled all its treaty obligations, dismantled over 80% of its weapons, and is on course to complete disarmament by 2009. The 2006 Annual report of the OPCW states much the same thing. And it should be an indicator of the sagacity of our administrators that the Armed Forces were kept out of the loop, thus reducing the risk of a WMD escalation in the subcontinent. It was a wise decision and not a blot on India's strategic culture.

This is what the OPCW says about India's commitments:

India has received an extension to 28 April 2009 of the deadline by which it must destroy all of its Category 1 chemical weapons stockpiles India has already destroyed 80% of its category 1 CW stockpile as well as 100% of its declared Category 2 and 3 chemical weapons.

Under the treaty (Part VI, Verification Annex), states are allowed to produce upto 10 kg of Schedule I chemicals annually. Any production over 100 gms must be declared. It would be laughable to call this production an "arsenal". Such production serves the purpose of improving Chemical Weapon protection and understanding of the Physiological effects of these chemicals. If dear Mr. Thapar wishes that we cease even this critical production in an effort to better protect our soldiers and people, there is nothing to be said.

Another allegation that Thapar immaturely makes (without offering any substantiation) is that the Army continues to be doctrinally committed to Chemical Weapons. That is a very serious claim, but no further explanation is offered. Why is that? Is it because it is too embarrassing, is the source confidential, was there a lack of time, or was it simple because there wasn't any proof?

The only bit of the article (which is as flimsy as a bamboo hut in a hurricane) that Thapar didn't make up, misquote or fib was the single sentence of the CAS that he used as a keystone to build around. Analyzing what Gen. Kapoor said,

“The chemical weapons aspect is still in the domain of discussions going on at an international level,” Kapoor said.

This is vague, but its hard to see how its even close to the conclusion that Vishal Thapar has drawn. And it certainly wasn't forced out of the Chief's mouth, like Thapar claims. Most likely, the Army Chief was referring to the CWC treaty and the disarmament process. Either way, its hard to know the context of his reply unless the whole quote was included. Unfortunately, the reporter has deigned that objectivity unimportant compared to his expert "findings".

The best indicator of Vishal Thapar's intentions is this statement, inserted at the bottom of the report, and not included in the Video.

For the record, Pakistan has declared a zero stockpile.

Well, for the Record, India ratified the CWC seven months before Pakistan did (India ratified on 29th Apr 1997, while Pakistan ratified on 27th Nov 1997).

Its not unlike Vishal Thapar, who never misses an opportunity to cock a snook at the Defence Establishment, whether it be this report, or his previous one about the Missile tests. The smear campaign is not worth responding to, but the serious and fraudulent claims that he has made are. Hopefully the Army or MoD will come forward to rubbish this slander campaign.

Newsflash: LCA Fires Missile

This is a newsflash from Chacko Joseph of Frontier India, who has confirmed that the LCA PV-1 has successfully fired a Vympel R-73 Air to Air Missile during Missile Trials in Dabolim, Goa.

This is a HUGE step forward for Indian Aerospace, and marks a turning point in the Operational Clearance process for the Tejas, and marks the first milestone of the weaponization process. Many more trials will have to be conducted, but this is a first step.

I saw a picture of the first LCA test flight. The whole team was up in the air, like little schoolboys cheering in a cricket match, without thought of the VIPs and VVIPs around (many of whom were also jumping up and down in glee). Today would have been the second of such cheerfully tearful days. Congratulations to the LCA team, and all those who poured their heart and soul into the program, which is finally bearing fruit. And Congrats to Chacko Joseph who first reported this news. Keep it up all.

Heres the report from Frontier India (link):

LCA firing the R-73 (Pictures courtesy DRDO, taken from Frontier India)

Tejas fires its first missile

Written on October 25, 2007 – 6:53 pm | by FIDSNS |

The Light Combat Aircraft ‘TEJAS’ program achieved the most significant milestone yet when it successfully test fired the Close Combat Missile R-73 today at the air to air range off Goa coast. The historic event marks the beginning of weaponisation, which is the focus of the current initial operational clearance (IOC) phase of the program. Air to Air missile integration and testing especially on a fly by wire aircraft is a very complex task involving interfaces with aerodynamics, engine air intake, control laws, flight control system, avionics system, electrical and other general system of aircraft. Today’s successful test firing is the culmination of preparatory work under the guidance of Mr. JJ Jadhav, DPD (Weapon Systems) and Mr. Balasubramanyam, AGM (HAL). Accordingly the main objectives of test firing were to validate:

•Safe separation of the missile from the parent aircraft.
•Effect of missile plume on engine air-intake
•Functionality of store management system (SMS) including safety interlocks
•Effect of missile plume on composites structures
•Handling quality assessment during missile launch

The historic flight was done on Tejas prototype vehicle PV-1, piloted by the Chief Test Pilot of the National Flight Test Centre ADA, Gp Capt. N. Harish. The test firing was done at 7 km altitude and 0.6 Mach.... (read more)

Praise the Double-tongued Snake

Continuing in the Congress' tradition of duplicity and double-speak, PM-ji Singh's comments that Gujarat was a 'Holocaust'. Fine, Dr Singh. But what about the Sikh Riots? A Government-sponsored pogrom (much like the Holocaust itself), that killed more than Gujarat. A genocide that ironically, led Khushwant Singh to say that he "felt like a Jew in Nazi Germany".

Swapan Dasgupta elaborates in this his piece for the Pioneer, reproduced below.

False eloquence does PM in

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has offered himself for direct election only once: In 1999, when he was the Congress candidate for South Delhi.

In normal circumstances, Manmohan should have won. South Delhi had a significant number of middle and upper-middle class voters who were direct beneficiaries of the economic liberalisation he initiated in 1991. Many of them, particularly the beautiful people, came out openly in his support. The jhuggi clusters were, in any case, Congress strongholds. Additionally, the constituency had a generous proportion of Sikh voters who should have been glad to see one of their own in the Lok Sabha.

Then something unexpected happened in the final days of the campaign. At one of those dreary Press conferences every candidate hosts, Manmohan was asked a routine question about the Congress involvement in the 1984 riots that led to the killing of more than 1,000 Sikhs in the four days after the assassination of Indira Gandhi. He calmly replied that the RSS was responsible for the riots. Surprised

According to local politicians, this was the turning point. On Election Day, I recall some BJP leaders saying there was a heavy Sikh turnout in South Delhi. It implied the Manmohan card was working for the Congress. The results contained many surprises but none greater than Manmohan's resounding defeat. On scrutiny, it was found that the Congress lost most heavily in Sikh-dominated areas. Manmohan's disingenuous bid to turn black into white and falsify the past rebounded on him.

The 1999 defeat should have driven home to the Prime Minister a simple fact: That it doesn't behove him to play with a cross bat. People have different expectations from politicians. Lalu Yadav can get away being perpetually non-serious; slippery ambiguity is associated with Atal Bihari Vajpayee; dynastic gaffes come naturally to Rahul Gandhi; and inanity and Jyoti Basu are inseparable. LK Advani and Prakash Karat are known for their measured pronouncements; they can't get away with loose talk. And Sonia Gandhi never makes an unscripted utterance since she proclaimed "We have 272" in the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan in 1999.

Manmohan is a prisoner of his own reputation. He is perceived as scholarly, serious, upright and kindly -- a cut above the average grasping politician. These attributes have conferred on him both respectability and acceptability. His limitations -- malleable, spineless and too wooden -- are known. But balanced against his strengths he has somehow passed muster in the cruel world of politics. The nation has defined its expectations of the Prime Ministers.

What they don't expect from him is falsiloquence -- a tongue-twister that means lying, deceitful speech. Yet, it was a harried Prime Minister who fell back on falsiloquence on the return flight from his uneventful African sojourn.

Responding to the BJP's call for his honourable resignation in the aftermath of his shamefaced surrender to the comrades and mullahs over the nuclear deal, he retorted that Advani had no moral right to pillory him. Had Advani, after all, not been Home Minister during the "Holocaust" in Gujarat?

The PM is sufficiently well read to know that holocaust is a term that cannot be used casually. In contemporary usage, it refers to the organised elimination of some six million Jews by Hitler's Nazis. It carries connotations of institutionalised evil on a grand scale.

According to a written reply to the Rajya Sabha on May 11, 2005 by the Minister of State for Home Sriprakash Jaiswal, a total of 790 Muslims and 254 Hindus were killed in the post-Godhra riots of 2002 in Gujarat. Judged by casualties, the violence that gripped Gujarat after the arson attack on Hindu activists in a railway carriage outside the Godhra railway station is one of the most serious post-Independence. It ranks just a notch below the killing of more than 1,000 Sikhs in Delhi (there were another 400 killings in other parts of India) -- a tragedy that Rajiv Gandhi justified with a facile analogy to falling trees.

The murder of any Indian in sectarian violence is a blot. Yet, the incidents recur with monotonous regularity and the blame game goes on without interruption. It's bad enough for the Prime Minister to once again lower himself to what Nehru once disdainfully called "the level of the bazaar". His offence is compounded by his penchant for wilful exaggeration.

If the Gujarat riots were, indeed, another Holocaust, does it do the image of India any good in the eyes of the world? Or, is the Prime Minister so utterly contemptuous of the people of Gujarat that he would go to any extent to vilify them? The Holocaust utterance tells us more about the PM's insecurities and paranoia than it does about what happened in Gujarat five years ago.

Of course, Manmohan's Government has an intimate sense of what constitutes a Holocaust. In November 2005, Russia, Canada, Australia, Israel and the US moved a resolution in the UN General Assembly calling for January 27 to be observed each year as a memorial day for the six million Jews and other victims of the Nazi Holocaust. India voted against it. Exclamation

The suggestion was that it was an attempt by the UPA to cosy up to the anti-Semitic lobby that thrives in parts of West Asia. The real reason, I suspect, was that Manmohan felt that the actual Holocaust happened in Gujarat. Laughing

It would be interesting to know what the people of Gujarat have to say about the Prime Minister's sense of history.

A Bitter pill to swallow

Most of the 200,000 who turned up on the streets of Karachi to welcome back Benazir Bhutto knew that there were credible threats. But they still came, believing in the humanity of those who made the threats, and the effectiveness of the government security. On both counts, they were wrong. Its unfortunate that innocent people who came to celebrate the return to democracy had to die for no fault of theirs. 130 dead, and counting. 130 Families devastated.

Its the worst terrorist attack that Pakistan has faced. John Howard has blamed the Al-Queda for for this, Asif Zardari has blamed the ISI, and others have just blamed 'Extremists'. This itself shows the monumental misunderstanding that most countries have of Terrorism in general.

The Horrific aftermath of the blasts. (sourced from The Liberal Blogger)

But this incident will come as no surprise to those who have observed Pakistan for the past few years- smaller incidents have been frequent, mostly killing a few dozen people. This is the big one that will wake up the rest. And those who till now were called naysayers, sensationalists, and other names are hollering we-told-you-so. Not with glee though. Unfortunately, it seems that those who're speaking the truth are afflicted with the "Cassandra complex", and its only now that most leaders are realizing what could have been prevented if only they'd listened.

'Blowback'. Thats the only way to describe the present happenings in Pakistan. What goes around, comes around. This bomb blast, the Lal masjid problem, and the growing power of Radical Clerics is all a blast from the past (no pun intended), a fallout of the policies of Gen. Zia-ul-Haq, and ironically, the support of Madam Benazir. After all, it was her channeling of these terrorists into Kashmir that kept them alive. After tearing apart Kashmir, and being beaten back by the Army, they tried (with liberal ISI support) to tear apart our cities with bomb blasts. With the US forces in Afghanistan, they were boxed in. with nowhere else to go, no weak enemies to destroy, the terrorists did the only thing they could- they're tearing Pakistan
apart.

Somewhere in South Block today, there's probably been a meeting to discuss the response to these events. Both Shivraj Patil and MMS should realize that the events in Pakistan can, and will spill over. The only way to stop that is to be alert and strong against terror. Unfortunately, that seems a little far-fetched, given our government's pussyfooting, and the fact that we dont even have an anti-terror law.

For long, we've faced these blasts. India has lost 60,000 people to these monsters. It was a matter of time before our neighbours faced the same. Undoubtedly, there's a certain schadenfreude among certain sections in seeing Pakistan eating its own medicine. There was an indication of that when the Samjhauta Express was firebombed. But we must remember that in any incident like these, its not the terrorists or leaders who suffer; its the common people. Hopefully these event will spur the Pakistan's leaders to clean up, and our leaders to be on their toes.