It does seem like that boat has sailed. No matter how hard Imran Khan (or a future government) tries now to prove that he's serious about settling these issues for the greater good, the present and upcoming generation in charge of things in India will probably never believe the Pakistani government.
I think since the ABV bus trip to Lahore which was repaid by Kargil, there has been a pattern to such peace initiatives launched by India followed by a terror attack. It's almost as inevitable as night following day.
To quote S.S.Menon again, a couple of decades ago there used to be a peace constituency in India rooting for peace between the two people's come what may . A small constituency with a voice inversely proportional to its height and punching much above its weight mainly comprising of MSM English language journalists but not exclusively so. Today while that constituency exists, it's lost its credibility. The same is true for the aman ka tamasha lobby.
There are many who see IK not only as a front for the PA & it's minions but as its proxy. Someone who wants peace just coz Pakistan is in an economic mess. The moment they start to recover, they'd be back to business in Kashmir & elsewhere.So, why should we oblige you?
However I still believe that India has more to gain from a strong Pakistan, than a weak one.
I don't share that view. Pakistan or at least the then west Pakistan was doing much better economically as compared to India, yet we saw the 1965 conflict initiated and prosecuted by the PA. Pakistan, whether strong or weak has been anything but inconsistent in the way it's viewed India and in it's behaviour towards India.
Indians massively underestimate how hostile their western border will get if Pakistan goes down. If the 'supervised' organizations make you feel like this, you don't wanna witness the times when all of them will be unleashed on India, potentially armed with WMDs.
If it comes to the point of armed terrorists with "no supervision " & potentially armed with NWP, it ceases to be India's problem exclusively and automatically becomes a world problem. As it is the question of snakes being raised in ones backyard only biting those it was raised to act against has been proved false. That was always going to happen as any student of history will tell you. It's the TTP now. What's to prevent the JeM or LeT not going rogue some years down the line? The question being even if you were to come to terms with India & Afghanistan what will you do with this ever growing lot of illiterate , radicalised youth with little or no chance of being absorbed into the economy in a productive manner.
I guess we'd just have to steel ourselves just as Israel has done in the West Bank. Build perimeters, constantly monitor them, be vigilant, use state of the art technologies and if in spite of all this we face casualties ( which is inevitable) unleash hell on the attackers and their constituency.
No matter how angry or frustrated the GoI and Indian public is, for them Pakistan is the literal manifestation of that small release switch on an explosive. If you let it go, the results will make Pulwama or Mumbai look like a walk in a park.
Interesting times ahead indeed.
While I agree with your assessment, I believe the thinking in the establishment and among vast sections of our society is, we can't come to terms with you. It's going to be a long haul and a battle of attrition which will get increasingly vicious as time goes by. Our primary intention would be to grow the economy. That would then have to be balanced against our national security needs. The previous regime emphasized the former. The present one is doing both. Or at least attempting to.
But you can be sure of one thing, if more Pulwamas are going to be a staple feature, you're going to see a return to the post Lal Masjid scenario too. Only this time, with all your neighbors as antagonists, the world opinion led by the US being staunchly against you and the internal cleavages in your nation being more pronounced. Add to that a floundering economy. See if the choice is between inciting and prolonging a civil war within Pakistan to seeing a wholesale export of these elements in the neighborhood, I don't need to tell you what the choice of your neighbors is going to be.