Dear friends,

Today the TV news channels started flashing "breaking news", announcing the thaw in the Manmohan-Gilani talks at Sharm al Sheikh, on the sidelines of NAM summit.

This made me wonder- whether we have learnt any lessons from the November attacks in Bombay, or worse still, have we, as a nation, forgotten the tragedy.

The Pakistani side rather cleverly sought to delink the bilateral talks from the ever present danger of more terrorist attacks, in future. Now, while this may serve the Pakistanis well, the question before us is what concessions, if any, has Dr.Manmohan Sigh managed to extract from the Pakistani Prime Minister. Or is it the same old capitulation to Pakistani trickery, as has happened so often in the past. I wish to draw your attention to the great blunder committed by Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in 1948. Subsequently, in 1971 when Indian military was on the periphery of Lahore, Zulfikar Ali Bhutto again managed to pull a fast one on Mrs. Indira Gandhi, during Shimla talks. He gave nothing and walked away with JK problem still alive.

This is worrisome. In international affairs national interests are always supreme and negotiations are always a means to further protect them. Here, I find, the Indian Government has been taken for a ride yet again.