Why India is becoming a global darling and Pakistan getting irrelevant today

The Pakistani establishment is feeling the pressure after India has started engaging with the former's immediate neighbours as well as with the US and other western countries.

Chabahar Port, Salma Dam, MTCR, US support---Pak has every reason to feel wary

The signing of the Chabahar Port pact with Iran, inauguration of the Friendship Dam in Afghanistan, reaching out to states like Switzerland and Mexico to win their backing for its bid to enter the Nuclear Suppliers Group and finally, engaging with Uncle Sam to get the green signal to enter the Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR) are significant tasks that Prime Minister Narendra Modi accomplished during his six-nation visits in May and June and the net result of this proactive diplomacy of New Delhi has made Islamabad wary.

Pakistan is worried mainly because it has failed to develop an identity beyond a client state---be it of the US in the past or China in the present.

Pakistan has not acted worked on a national development goal since 1947

As a nation where democracy could never find its roots firmly placed into the ground (only one civilian government has succeeded in completing its term in its 69-year-old history) and the army has always prevailed over everything else, Pakistan offers little utility in this age of an integrated world where advancements in trade, enterprise, technology, education, business and other positive ventures matter more than things that are military.

India, on the other hand, has prepared the ground since 1991 by liberalising its economic regime

India, which will also complete 69 years of independence in August this year, has scripted a completely contradictory story. The political stability over six decades and economic course correction 25 years ago have prepared the stage for India today to achieve its potentials as a knowledge-based and enterprising economy.

India and US have come together today not just because of strategic reasons but as democracies that thrive on development and welfare

The country's vital interests have been aligned with the US today not just because of strategic considerations like anti-terrorism or balancing China but because the pathways of these two countries overlap. This is an era when the economic interests of the two democracies complement each other like never before.

As long as India was kept a caged tiger because of the faulty economic policies of its first-generation leaders, New Delhi and Washington could not come close to realise the potential of their bilateral relation as they have today. The two countries could not move beyond the issues of non-alignment, Pakistan or Kashmir.

Pak remained complacent over its military alliance with US of the Cold War era

Pakistan had taken the advantage of India's decision to lock its own potential in the past. Harbouring the sole ambition of defeating India on every occasion, Pakistani rulers never cared beyond acting as a client state of the US which kept on feeding its hunger by means of military hardware.

While India made advancements in education, science, technology and IT, Pak kept its focus only on procuring military hardware

Since the army is an institution which is not trained to lead a nation's true welfare, Pakistan never thought anything beyond war rhetoric against India. For the last seven decades or so, that country has only seen how the military and then terrorism have destroyed the prospects of democracy, something which has helped India to earn global respects today.

Just like the year 1991 saw PV Narasimha Rao's leadership sow the seeds of a brighter future for India by embracing economic liberalisation, it also indicated at a bleak future of Pakistan through the end of the Cold War. It was precisely the Cold War which had kept Pakistan relevant in a bipolar world where the lines of distinction were very clear.

Today with Cold War being a thing of the past, US has no business backing an unproductive Pakistan

Today, with the Soviet Union a thing of the past and the Chinese been increasingly seen as a competitor by the US, Washington's best bet lies in backing the (computer) software talents of India than the generals of Pakistan skilled in using (military) hardware. Wars and tanks do not matter in international relations today. What matters is trade and exchange of knowledge.

While PV Narasimha Rao gave India a positive leadership, Pakistan lacked enlightened brains that would show it the way

Pakistan is paying the price of its complacency of remaining under the US's shadow all these years. The problem lied in its lack of an enlightened leadership.

The army just focused on demonising India and the possession of the nuclear arms made it doubly confident about neutralising the lead that India had since 1974. But it never paid heed to the nurturing and development of the softer diplomacy and on the contrary, ruined the prospects of nurturing its softer talents by imposing strict rules internally. Today India is sending mission to the outer space and is being considered a counterweight to China in the Asian theatre. What are Pakistan's credentials apart from possessing a nuclear arsenal?

The result is clearly seen today. While India is marching ahead despite its problems that can always be democratically handled, Pakistan has found itself on a cul-de-sac because of unhealthy politico-economic practices since birth. Narendra Modi has just reaped the benefits as the leading citizen of a better-placed country.