Pakistan once again have a opportunity for a democratic government in Pakistan and hopefully with a change of attitude and priority we will think of other issues besides the dispute on Kashmir and from all possible angles both countries have much to gain from the exit of the General. Many have a cynical view of politics in Pakistan and whilst the negatives may persist the fact remains that in addition to the political parties the wilt of the people in Pakistan has also prevailed and the Army and even the USA had little option to abandon General Musharraf.

The fight against terror along the Pakistan Afghan factor persists for the USA and also for us in India and it is no secret that the General despite all the rhetoric did very little to isolate the terror networks or exercised control on the rogue elements within the ISI. Things will now change and can do so with dramatic effect but every effort will be made to disrupt the current democratic institutions with violence and coercion and the global community must render every possible assistance to Pakistan. We need to be extremely vigilant on our borders and within the country as the rogue elements in the short term can create a chaotic situation.

The emergence of the middle class in India and China has given a cushion for the future but in the final analysis the positive and negatives of globalization are evenly distributed in the long term. The challenges for the future are well defined and there is genuine concern if the elections in the future will produce a responsible government capable of carrying the reforms and progress into the next decade. The current year we witness stumbling blocks on infrastructure shortages in every field of activity and these can no longer be ignored as productivity is being affected as private industry cannot generate miracles   at every stage and even a 7% growth rate will be difficult to generate unless infrastructure targets are achieved by the State and Central governments of projects under their control. Commercial objectives override any other consideration and wonder why we talk of the Master plan and planning for the future. The tree cover in the area is being destroyed systematically every day and greed prevails over our green cover and the environment.

We live in the present and must think of the future and think of the benefits to both India and Pakistan in terms of trade co operation and the fact remains that public opinion both in India and Pakistan is for greater co operation in all spheres and both the governments are reflecting this reality. The USA is in election mode and on current indications Barack Obama is the front runner and may well be the next President as public opinion in the USA is completely against the Iraq war and sadly the economy is in tatters with the subprime crisis and the financial services by a combination of management, possible fraud and lack of regulatory controls have sliced over a trillion dollars from the system.