Pakistan has carried all in bringing the world round to its viewpoint in the context of the debate ensuing Mumbai attacks. After 26/11 incident, India had indulged in a global propaganda offensive against Pakistan, coupled with intensive lobbying to drum up international support for its unreasonable stance that Pakistan is responsible for the attacks and should hand over the suspects. Indian officials hopped from capital to capital internationally with dossiers on Pakistan's involvement in the Mumbai attacks but badly failed to construct a convincing case and wheedle the international community into coming round to India's viewpoint. Now the international community has come to believe that neither the state of Pakistan nor ISI are involved in these attacks. Keeping in view the untenable position of India, even its key allies like the UK and US have distanced themselves from New Delhi. This has made India so much flummoxed that it has started blowing hot and cold. For all practical purposes, India made a strong bid to mimic the US and Israel but Pakistan has proved that it is neither Afghanistan nor Gaza. So India's dream of being a regional hegemon lies broken. This represents a big diplomatic success of Pakistan. Hats off to the Foreign Office of Pakistan for pursuing emphatic diplomatic efforts and coaxing the nations across the world into supporting its viewpoint. As a result of Pak's cogent diplomacy, there is an abundantly clear change of tune at the international front. This change of tone is typified by British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's remarks. Miliband has rebuffed New Delhi's demand for extradition of suspects and their prosecution in India. The US has also opposed India's truculent posture and stressed the need of co-operation between two countries in probing the Mumbai attacks. But if we dissect the issue, it comes out that it is not out of love for Pakistan that the international community is espousing its viewpoint. Because at this time internationally, the rule of "might is right" has its full sway and diplomacy has no place to assert itself. For the most part, if the nations are found weak, "might is right" is allowed to operate itself but if the nations are found capable enough of defending their sovereignty, diplomacy is taken recourse to. Going by this principle, if Pakistan had been found vulnerable, the world would not have cocked an ear to its diplomatic responses. If we make a candid analysis, two factors come to the fore which have bludgeoned the nations of the world into changing their pro-India rhetoric and siding with Pakistan. Firstly, it was the optimal level of preparedness of Pakistan's army to defend its country and capability to make mincemeat of anyone who would have tried to undo the sovereignty of Pakistan. Pak army's strength is the guarantor of country's sovereignty. In the presence of current potential of its army, Pakistan cannot devolve into a failed state. Full marks to General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani for his valorous stand. General Kayani refused to bow down to some risible demands of the US and stated in no uncertain terms that Pak army is fully prepared to meet any challenge. On Oct 21, 2008, the writer had written an article in this space, "Pakistan is crucial to world map". This article had attracted a lot of criticism from some journalists across the world for the writer's viewpoint that Pak army is fully vigilant and capable enough to defend its country. These journalists had dubbed the writer as a sheer chauvinist. But now they would be looking sheepish definitely as Pak army has stared India out and its potential has forced the world to have second thoughts about its pro-India posture. The world in general and India in particular, should be mindful of the fact that Pak army is not a band of pygmies but an association of highly professional soldiers brimming over with confidence, spirit of sacrifice and high morale. This army is no stranger to unpleasant situations. Secondly, it was the importance of Pakistan that has made the international community think better of throwing in its lot with India. Pakistan is located at the junction of great powers. It has a big role to play in the future going to be pregnant with an endless struggle between the US and Russia again for supremacy in regional and global politics. Pakistan is pivotal to the realization of the US's "Great Central Asia" strategy. Moreover, US needs Pakistan to fight the war on terror. This viewpoint has been echoed by Miliband also who has said that the war on terror cannot be won without the co-operation and support of Pakistan. He has gone to the extent of saying even that Islamabad is vital for New Delhi's security. Pakistan provides logistical support to the US in Afghanistan in the form of fuel and munitions. If Pakistan ditches America at this stage in the war on terror and closes the border to all NATO re-supply traffic to Afghanistan, its enterprise will meet a fate worse than death. Geographically, Pakistan provides the shortest and least complex connection to the open Ocean from which all US supplies, not flown directly into Afghanistan, are delivered. With at least 20,000 more US troops stated to arrive in Afghanistan in 2009, the demands on NATO's transport route through Pakistan will only increase. Indubitably, there are alternative supply routes also but the prospects are grim. An airlift could be exceedingly expensive and limited by the number of runways in Afghanistan that can accommodate cargo aircraft. The ground alternatives involve Russia in one way or the other and so these may be nightmare choices for the US. And in the context of Mumbai attacks, it was blindingly obvious that Indo-Pak conflagration could have dismantled all efforts so far made to contain and eliminate world-threatening terrorism from region. It is the important position of Pakistan that has made Barack Obama to express his resolve to forge a close American co-operation with Pakistan. US has also announced the tripling of non-military aid to Pakistan. The conclusion is that the international community has got forced to bow to the inevitable that Pakistan is integral to the security of the whole of the world. It cannot afford to annoy Pakistan by siding with India as India can never replace Pakistan in the international geostrategy.