If national survival is at stake, the people of Pakistan can turn the entire country into a battlefield. But between this vision of Armageddon and the unthinking slide to war we are seeing there is a world of difference. What makes the present situation all the more alarming is the growing feeling that there is no firm hand on the tiller. There is certainly no Churchillian ring to the heavy mandate which instead looks slightly rattled as if what is happening was not part of anyone's game-plan. As for the army chief, he has lately begun looking very grim.
Nothing is lost, however.
It should not take an American Centcom commander to tell us what is in our best interests or what we should do. If we can sustain the Kargil build-up and thrust, fine. Let us not in that case be deterred by the US or any other power. But if politically our position is ill-judged and therefore untenable, we could do worse than to remember the military maxim which advises against reinforcing a failure.