The multiple-nuclear pact between India and Russia, in which Russia would build a total of 12 atomic plants in India has been supplemented by another pact to supply India with a $2.5 billion refurbished aircraft carriers and a $1.5 billion deal for 29 fighter jets. These massive purchases clearly indicate Indias visions of war. The Indian leadership ought to be asked what brand of 'Aman ki Asha are they providing to the region by amassing mountains of modern military hardware, including even weapons of mass destruction. With its defense budget ceaselessly soaring every year, is New Delhi actually interested at all in the so-called 'peace process or does it have a new kind of vision of peace, Aman Ki Asha, that is to be enforced in the region using aircraft-carrying fleets of sophisticated arsenal? Apparently backed by the international community in its dreams of becoming the regional top dog, it has also recently signed defense deals with France, Israel and US. India is busy building a gigantic war machine that could help it gain full control over the entire South Asian region. If this fails to get our politicians out of their personal reveries, I dont know what will. The entire Pakistani nation is in a state of blue gloom while the state seems unable to resolve a single concern of national importance. And this is, most crucially, happening at the time when India is signing pact upon pact with nations around the world to make lightening progress in all areas. We have to wake up to this existential threat that India poses, not only to our sovereignty but to our very integrity as a state. Do we possess the will and wherewithals to curb the evil designs India harbours against Pakistan, and if we do, what are we doing about it? Why is the entire international community, one and all, against us and why arent we able to extricate ourselves out of the mess we are in? These are questions we have to ask ourselves before its too late. -LUBNA UMAR, Islamabad, March 14.