Even Pakistan's involvement in the civil war in neighbouring Afghanistan is entwined with the conflict with India. A peaceful environment will help the economy to grow.
Foreign investment is frightened off.
But Pakistan is also diverting its own resources that are desperately needed to fight 60 per cent illiteracy and counter economic decay. It has seen the number below the poverty line rise from 18 per cent to 34 per cent of the population since 1987. While Pakistan denies any military backing for the Taliban movement that controls most of Afghanistan, UN officials say most of an estimated 15,000 foreigners with the hardline Islamic organisation are from Pakistan. Islamabad denies it is helping the guerrillas fighting Indian rule in Kashmir but finds few believers when the organisations all have offices in Pakistan. On the Pakistan side there is a game plan that is not realistic and won't work.