…when it means nothing for an indignant Indian nation.

While his op-ed piece in the NYT may have been targeted at the international constituency which put him in power and can help him continue there, his highfalutin advise to India sounds vacuous and trite.

In the current environment, reconciliation and rapprochement is the best revenge against the dark forces that are trying to provoke a confrontation between Pakistan and India, and ultimately a clash of civilizations.

An indignant India would have instead liked President Zardari to answer the following questions before penning his piece.

1. Who will punish the controllers and masters of these terrorists, who wreaked this havoc on Mumbai?

2. Will this prevent another terrorist attack from happening in India?

3. Do you have any power over the Pakistan army and ISI, which have favoured and still favour the use of terrorism as a tool of foreign policy?

If he had made some concrete promises, President Zardari could have been asked to walk the talk.

Such asinine drivel would have been usually ignored with a smirk, if it were not for the horrific tragedy at Mumbai. It rather gets us furious and outraged at his temerity to pontificate.