With a weak Prime Minister - and by self admission, "helpless" and "sad" - at the helm of affairs, the country is becoming increasingly vulnerable both within and without its borders. While Pak inspired Islamic radicals have a free run within, the "red army" is flexing its muscles along the northern and eastern borders, bringing back memories of the humiliating defeat India suffered at the hands of China in 1962.

The country has witnessed a succession of bomb blasts - in Malegoan, twice in Hyderabad, in Ajmer and then in Ludhiana. But not one of the blasts has been accounted for. On India's northern and eastern borders, Chinese Army patrols have been regularly intruding into Indian territory over the last three years. The number of intrusions in 2007 has reached 130, and over a two-year-period the number has exceeded 300. In September, in one single day, six intrusions took place, with the Chinese patrols coming 5.5 km inside our territory.

This has to be seen in the context of China strengthening its road and rail infrastructure along the whole length of the 3,500-km Indo-China border, which enables it to bring its men and supplies right up to the border. Let us also not forget that China is claiming Arunachal Pradesh as its own territory. Events in Nepal too are taking a strange turn, with the armed Maoists, with Chinese help, rocking the coalition boat.

What is the Indian government's reaction to all this? Nothing. There is no information about the build-up behind the lines, no report to the nation about how safe it is in such circumstances. After all, we saw a similar situation between 1958 and 1962, till the Chinese boldly pushed into Indian territory in the north and the east and the Indian Army, poorly equipped, and even more poorly led, had to retreat suffering over 5,000 casualties.

History, we are told, repeats itself. We cannot forget that in 1962 we had a crypto-Communist as defence minister who continued to deny all along that the Chinese were a threat to our borders till they actually came up to Tawang and Bomdila. Only a huge public reaction forced the then Prime Minister to get rid of the crypto-Communist. Under him Indian Army factories were producing coffee filters among other such things. Entire divisions were moved to the mountains without even being given enough warm clothes. At that critical juncture the Indian Communists prevaricated and finally denied that any Chinese incursion had taken place. Today they are silent on China's claim on Arunachal Pradesh. But these same Marxists and other Left parties take out marches to protest the naval exercises that India, the United States and other countries hold.

It is important to remember all this, because unlike in the Fifties and early Sixties, when only a few cryptos had crawled into the seat of power, today the entire Central government is like a dog that is wagged by its red tail. The great Prime Minister himself has demonstrated his government's capacity to surrender to Communist blackmail not only on the nuclear deal but also on a host of other policy matters like reforms in banking, insurance, pension, labour laws that he himself termed as critical for the country to attain double digit growth.

In neighbouring Pakistan, the deafening blast with which the jihadi militants welcomed former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's return after years of self-exile, underlines the rising threat that Islamic terrorism poses to civil society even in Islamic countries. It is interesting to compare Benazir Bhutto's response to the attack with the Indian government's. Bhutto had the courage to name the jihadis and attacked them with all the force at her command. But on this side of the border, the UPA government still dilly-dallies when it comes to naming the Islamic militants responsible for the blasts. For our rulers, the extremists who are using all sorts of improvised devices to rain fire and sulphur on innocent civilians are nothing more than "some misled elements" or some words to that effect. It seems our smartly dressed Union home minister thinks that the word Islamic to describe these militants is taboo.

The attitude of the Congress state governments is even more tolerant and laidback. According to reports, the police stops its investigation where the trail leads to Muslim dominated areas. Congress politicians and minority leaders are working in tandem to ensure that there is no further investigation where the trail leads to what they designate as "sensitive areas." In Hyderabad, when the police picked up some dozen youths for questioning, the state Minorities Commission published an investigation report that said the Muslim youth were being unnecessarily harassed. It was alleged that the police had tortured them while questioning.

Compare this with what the US administration did after 9/11. Every single participant in the conspiracy was tracked down. They were caught from Pakistan, Egypt, Jordan, Afghanistan etc. Even though the two top Al Qaeda leaders are in hiding, their sanctuaries have been blasted and they have been forced to be on the move continuously. The US has not faced another such incident for six years. Some of the methods that the US uses are tough, but then you cannot talk to terrorists in any other language.

The latest trend is to use Bangladeshi infiltration as a cover to push into the country all sorts of dangerous extremists. The government admits to this Bangladeshi link, but does not produce even a single Bangladeshi immigrant. That is because the police does not dare to penetrate the Bangladeshi dominated areas in our urban locations. In some cases the immigrants have fortified their positions and no policeman can go there unless in a sufficiently strong group. But once the police enters these areas in groups, orchestrated cries of "our religion is in danger" are broadcast through loudspeakers. Getting no support from the authorities the police calls it a day. Thus, all investigations meet dead ends.

Thus, while the nation is facing armed insurrections from both Islamic militants and Naxalite armed gangs, and while the Chinese are flexing their muscles along our borders, the Central government is cowering before the Communist Party general secretary.

The threat of India being ringed from within and without is real. It is the country's misfortune that it has a Central government that is deliberately blind to this threat, that sends sweet homilies to Islamic militants and is silent on the gathering clouds on the border.

The government itself is under the thumb of a party with proven links to a foreign power, and its Prime Minister is a powerless entity who must publicly swallow his words every now and then to remain in power. We will surely have more reminders in the coming weeks to let the world know how weak, powerless and subservient to outsiders the current government is.

Balbir K. Punj can be contacted at bkpunj@gmail.com

Courtesy: www.asianage.com, November 4, 2007