The army, which already has a veritable business empire, has been authorised to carry out activities related to national development.

Going by what Pakistan continues to be, its self-absorption helps us. However, it would be a different ball game altogether if Pakistan’s fault lines were to lead to its collapse.

Satinder Lambah says in his book 'In Pursuit of Peace: India-Pakistan Relations Under Six Prime Ministers' that great powers should not wait passively for events to unfold, but should seek to shape their environment in pursuit of their national interest.

A sincere and incorruptible leadership, enjoying mass support and willing to carry forward the agenda of change and development, will not emerge simply because we have scrapped J&K's special status.

Whenever we have not been talking to Pakistan directly, we have had to do so through third parties. Frequent involvement of third countries risks bringing back the Indo-Pak hyphenation that we worked so hard to jettison.

If the peace talks give rise to a renewed power struggle in Afghanistan, India should be nimble-footed in choosing partners.

Stopping engagement and resorting to Jingoistic rhetoric do not guarantee an end to Pakistani provocations; instead they give a veto on bilateral relations to terrorists and weaken the opponents of the security state paradigm in Pakistan.