Osama Bin Laden is dead. So should be the wishful thinking among a large section of India's policymakers that Pakistan can be trusted. The US forces that hunted down the al-Qaeda chief in Pakistan not only avenged the 9/11 terrorist strikes but also exposed our treacherous neighbour for what it is. Pakistan has survived for decades at the largesse of the US. And now it has been proved that the man most wanted by the US forces had been hiding right there in Pakistan. This turned out to be the case even as the Pakistan establishment never tired of professing its commitment to the US-led war on terror.

The lessons for India are clear. India has suffered repeatedly at the hands of Pakistan. Yet, successive governments in India have played along with the charade of a possible India-Pakistan amity. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, not unlike his predecessor Atal Bihari Vajpayee, has gone out of his way and against the national sentiment to build bridges with a hostile Pakistan. Just like Vajpayee before him, Singh too has been feted by a vocal minority that refuses to face facts and keeps churning out excuses to justify Pakistan.

However, since Pakistan has refused to respond to Indian overtures and has sustained its policy of supporting terrorism against India, the question remains whether India hasn't been mistaken in its approach towards Pakistan.