Pak has survived on anti-Indian sentiment: Rice

I generally do not agree with any of George Bush’s cabinet – but in this case, I agree with Condi Rice.  She wasanswering questions from the students at the Jewish Primary Day School in Washington after delivering the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Lecture.

Rice, who had played a crucial role in defusing the tension between India and Pakistan after the Mumbai terrorist attacks, said: “You know, having been carved as it was, essentially, out of India, its identity has always been a problem and its always — not always, but some elements in Pakistan find their identity through extremism and through extreme anti-India sentiment.

“So there are some people for whom there is no positive agenda for Pakistan; it’s all about aggression,” said the former secretary of state.

Her take on India was that it did not want to be a part of the crisis that was current going on in the Af-Pak region.  India, she said, is focusing on more positive things
like economic development.

I also completely agree with one of the major elements of the solution that she offered:

“I think that the only way to deal with this is — there’s a long-term problem — long-term possibility — got to deal with those madrassas and get better education for Pakistani kids,”

I think if some honest administrator came into the sub-continent, then the first thing to do is get rid of all the madrasas and provide modern and secular education for the kids of all religions.  Such narrow religious instruction leave the students nowhere!

Reference Links:

1. Pak a fragile entity survival on anti-India sentiment: Rice