The Luckies
The Labelled, Urban, Chilled, Kicked-with-life Indians are here. The most fortunate ever if only for the choices before it, this generation is glib, global, cocky and informed-and chases success with an awesome spending power.

Wages Of Peace
The Centre's decision to extend its cease-fire with the NSCN(I-M)
to three other north-east states leads to large-scale violence
in Manipur.

Man Of Letters
Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik's skill with the quill has the PMO busy acknowledging his missives. And on occasion agreeing to his demands.

Civil Lines
Pervez Musharraf's assuming the office of President is being seen as a bid to legitimise his position. A look at what this means in the context of his India visit.

Peace In Pipeline
India wants to put on Iran the onus of ensuring safe transit of gas.

NEIGHBOURS: PAKISTAN

Army May Curb Religious Extremism

In the best case scenario, Musharraf's troops may end up like the Turkish army, the principal modernising and secularising influence in a democratic polity, one that has stepped in on occasion to curb religious extremism.

All of that, of course, is in the future. After meeting Vajpayee in the city of the Taj Mahal-three hotels, the Jaypee Palace, the Mughal Sheraton and the Amar Vilas are being discussed as probable venues-he will visit the Dargah at Ajmer. What will he pray for at this Sufi shrine?

Just after he took oath, Musharraf said, "My major concern is the country's political stability and harmony." Another priority for the general-cum-president is Pakistan's economy. The country's international debt is a staggering $37 billion. The banking sector is close to collapse. The GDP is growing at 2.6 per cent rather than the expected 4.5 per cent. Double-digit inflation and drought conditions in parts of the country don't make life any better for the 40 million Pakistanis residing in abject poverty. A week ago, economic exigencies forced Musharraf to cut Pakistan's defence budget by 27.4 per cent.

Such pragmatism may not be agreeable to hardline generals who want to continue to support the militancy in Kashmir. Their logic is that the strategy of "bleeding India" and the "success of jehad" have brought Delhi to the negotiating table. "These hawks in uniform," points out Waseem, "also include military officers who support the Taliban's cause."

That a conflict was brewing became apparent when Musharraf's Interior Minister Lt-General (retd) Moinuddin Haider said recently, "Religious extremism has adversely affected our national interests and there is a dire need to differentiate between jehad and terrorism." His boss too asked religious demagogues to curb their rhetoric. Musharraf went so far as to call the Jamaat-e-Islami chief "unbalanced".

Sources in the Pakistani Interior Ministry hint that the tough talk should not be taken at face value. Rather than a black-and-white affair, Musharraf's equation with the jehadis is a series of grey areas. There are suggestions from within the Government that the jehadis have been asked to "behave" for "the time being". While this will help Musharraf diplomatically-more than impress India, he will be keen to win over the the US and the West-he will not take punitive action against the jehadi organisations nor touch their sources of funding.

Pakistani sources also argue that Musharraf sees the carrot-and-stick policy on the jehadis as the way out from an immediate economic crisis. As part of the alleged "deal", the military Government will, notwithstanding its public statements, turn a blind eye to the jehadis' activities. In return, petro-dollars from Saudi sheikhs-with whom the jehadis presumably have a certain leverage-will bail out the cash-strapped Pakistani Government.

That the jehadi groups are in no mood to listen to the Musharraf Government's "request" that they hold their horses is apparent enough. In an interview to Aaj Tak, Mohamad Hafiz Sayed-the Lashkar-e-Toiba's chief who lives just outside Islamabad-said, "India and Pakistan have always engaged in talks but the result has always been zero. We don't have any faith in these talks anymore. This is just a drama to influence world opinion. If they want to talk, let them do it but our jehad will continue till India pulls out its troops."

Given this backdrop, Musharraf-assuming of course his intentions are absolutely above board-will only be able to go half the distance with India. For Vajpayee, who recently told a retired Indian diplomat that he knows "how to handle generals and got along with even Zia", that will be a sobering thought as he prepares for Agra.

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