SELL OUT AT SHARM EL SHEIKH

The smell of burnt flesh, the sight of severed limbs and blood, charred remains of buildings, cars, buses, trains, innocent people....dead. Injured and the relatives wailing in hospitals at their helplessness.... Mumbai, Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, Varanasi, Jammu and Kashmir, Bangalore, Assam....for decades its the same story. In a decade and a half as a journalist I've covered so many terror attacks that I still have nightmares about terrorists striking and killing innocent pople indiscriminately. With no remorse.

Had our prime minister or the political elite seen any of this at close quarters....had they stepped out for a moment without security and exprienced how vulnerable we as common citizens of this country feel every day, this sell out at Sharm el Sheikh would never have happened.

DE-LINKING TERROR AND TALKS

Mr Prime Minister you owe the nation an explanation. How could you de-link terror and talks. For a moment let's forget about the past and focus only on 26/11. What has Pakistan done on ground to give you hope they are serious about cracking down on terror. What transpired between you and Pakistan's prime minister Yusuf Raza Gillani. Because till just a day before this sell out at Sharm el Sheikh foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon said talks can move forward only when Pakistan takes credible action against the 26/11 accused and dismantles the terror infrastructure in Pakistan. Till Just a few hours before your meeting with your Pakistani counterpart foreign minister S.M. Krishna reiterated India's stand.

And just a day before that defence minister A.K. Antony said in Parliament that the terror infrastructure still exists in Pakistan and there are still 48 terrorist training camps and launch pads aimed at India. The Pakistan government has still not ensured legal action is taken against Hafiz Saeed of the Lashkar e Taiba. Maulana Masood Azhar is still in Pakistan and so is Dawood Ibrahim. Anti-India elements are flourishing in Pakistan so what was your desperation to de-link terror with talks.

WHAT WILL INDIA AND PAKISTAN TALK ABOUT ANYWAYS

God forbid the next terror attack happens! and it will given that the terror infrastructure in Pakistan is still intact. Both the UN and the US officials along with our own IB have repeatedly spoken of the Lashkar e Taiba terror threat and our inability to wake up to the threat - what will you do....Will you still talk to Pakistan about Siachen, Sir Creek, Jammu and Kashmir, terror and go through the whole process with innocents dying. if so sir...Why blame Pakistan alone....we too will have blood on our hands....

What has changed since 26/11 Mumbai attacks ? Or even more recently since Yaketarinburg, Russia where you met Pakistan's president Asif Ali Zardari ? Pakistan's attitude remains as negative as ever...Zardari even refused to come to Egypt after you told him about your mandate. Has your mandate changed Mr Prime Minister ?

You had said the two foreign secretaries will meet and the Pakistani foreign secretary will tell our foreign secretary about the progress on the 26/11 terror attacks and then the talks will progress further. Well What did Salman Bashir tell Shiv Shankar Menon that gave India the confidence Pakistan is cracking down on terror.

CUT OFF FROM GROUND REALITY

Mr prime minister please speak to the next of kin of those killed in terror attacks. Please find time to speak to those who have lost a limb - how lives have changed completely. Please speak to the real India and not just a group of men in air conditioned rooms flanked by armed security personnel. We want peace with Pakistan but not at the cost of our lives.

Pakistan has not even given an inch and taken away a mile.

WHY ARE WE DESPERATE TO TALK

It is not necessary that two neighbours have to be in love. There are many who don't see eye to eye. Maintain contact so that you know what is on the other side of the hill but six months after every terror attack you cannot just wish away the past and pretend things are back to normal. Indo-Pak relations have become more about pretence than actual relationship.

Please learn from our past mistakes. Every time we have trusted them they have stabbed us in the back. Your predecessor went to Lahore and they did a Kargil on us. While Vajpyee and the entire diplomatic machinery was celebrating in Lahore Pakistani troops were making deeper inroads into Kargil, Drass, Kaksar and Batalik.

Perhaps even as you were shaking hands in Sharm al Sheikh the Dirty Tricks Department of the Pakistan army was planning or even may be executing another plan to cut us...hurt us...maim us..

MENTIONING BALOCHISTAN

The security and intelligence community is aghast Balochistan creeped into the Joint Statement. Was our diplomatic team dozing...What was the need....Did we mention terror attacks and sleepre cells in Rajasthan, Karnataka, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi....why Balochistan ? Why are we so desperate to give credibility to a state that sponsors terror. What I fail to understand is why do we lose every time on the negotiating table. Whether it is ceasefire in 1948, losing Haji Pir in 1965, returning 93,000 Pakistani prisoners or war in 1971 without getting an iota in return, Kargil and now in Sharm el Sheikh...

Let our diplomats do a crash course in tough negotiations. Let them get it in their heads that each meeting does not require a positive result. Let there be hundreds of rounds before one positive development rather than one meeting with so called positive developments that have no real meaning on ground.

CONCLUSION

India is upset...hurt...and bleeding....please let our wounds heal first. Please wait till Pakistan takes concrete steps...From Nehru to Vajpyee we've have great international leaders but let us please please for once have a great national leader who thinks of India first and an international image and a Noble Peace Prize later.

Lasting peace comes when there is a genuine desire for peace on both sides. When One side uses terror as part of state policy then signing the dotted line on a million papers is not even worth the paper it is scribbled on... let's never forget that