| Richard Nixon’s strength as a tactician was his habit of analysing the pros and cons of any problem confronting him. He would draw a line down the centre of the page of his yellow legal pad (Nixon was a lawyer by profession, and a lawbreaker by inclination). He would then list the advantages and disadvantages on opposite sides and evolve a strategy accordingly. By using this technique, he was able to surmount the numerous crises that punctuated his political life – as a beleaguered Vice President under Eisenhower, a failed candidate for the governorship of California against Pat Brown, and as a contestant for the presidency against Jack Kennedy. That he succeeded finally in becoming the 37th President of the United States can be attributed as much to his dogged persistence as to the precision of his analysis. |
| In the context of current developments in the subcontinent, one wonders whether leaders on either side of the line that divides India and Pakistan have thought of conducting such a diagnostic scrutiny. They would be well advised to do so now, for at whatever level their next round of talks are pitched, imperfect preparation could well lead to another Agra-like abortion, with equally still-born results. It is time for each to approach each other’s concerns dispassionately, coolly, and without the overhang of mutual recriminations and suspicions that have bedevilled Indo-Pakistan contacts since 1947. |
| India’s yellow pad will predictably be the longer, for it has more to gain and to lose than Pakistan. [EXTRACT] |
| Published in DAWN 27 May 2003, and reprinted in WHEN BUSH COMES TO SHOVE & OTHER WRITINGS (2006) |
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