Pak a fragile entity survival on anti-India sentiment: Rice

Lalit K Jha

Washington, May 5 (PTI) Former Secretary of State
Condoleezza Rice believes that Pakistan is a fragile entity,
which is facing an "identity crisis" post-independence
because of which element in the country have found refuge in
extremism and anti-India sentiment.

In a rare public appearance after January 20, when
Barack Obama took over from George W Bush, as the President of
the United States, Rice insisted that India does not want to
be part of this crisis and is focusing on more positive things
like economic development.

"Pakistan is just such a fragile entity," Rice said on
Sunday in response to a question at Jewish Primary Day School
in Washington after delivering the Yitzhak Rabin Memorial
Lecture. She was responding to a question on the current
situation in Pakistan, which Rice said has now moved on to a
"daily management problem."

Rice, who had played a crucial role in defusing the
tension between India and Pakistan after the Mumbai terrorist
attacks, said: "You know, having been carved as it was,
essentially, out of India, its identity has always been a
problem and its always -- not always, but some elements in
Pakistan find their identity through extremism and through
extreme anti-India sentiment.

"So there are some people for whom there is no positive
agenda for Pakistan; it's all about aggression," said the
former Secretary of State.

As part of long-term solutions, Rice suggested an
overhauling of the fundamentalist structure of Pakistan's
primary education system.

"I think that the only way to deal with this is --
there's a long-term problem -- long-term possibility -- got to
deal with those madrassas and get better education for
Pakistani kids," she said.

In an apparent reference to the new policy of the Obama
Administration that concentrates on developmental aspect of
Pakistan by tripling non-military aid to the country, she
said: "These longer-term things -- economic development,
educational development -- that's all going to take time."

India, she observed does not wants to be part of a
crisis any longer.

"I think they've moved on to other things, like
Bollywood," Rice said amidst laughter.

She said the key to success in Afghanistan is
elimination of safe havens of terrorists in Pakistan.

"We're going to be struggling there (Afghanistan) for a
long time. But as long as you can prevent the Taliban from
making strategic victories and as long as you can do something
about Pakistan and that border, I think, eventually, it will
work in Afghanistan," Rice said. PTI LKJ
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