This Is Not a Test
The nub of the problem today is that India is behaving as if it and Pakistan were still two-bit countries. Talk to Indian officials and journalists, and the same refrain arises: Americans are destroying terrorists in Afghanistan and Israelis are swatting militants in the West Bank, so why can't we whack Pakistan for the attack on our Parliament building?

Such comments underscore how completely India misunderstands its position today. There is a double standard in international affairs, and India had better recognize it quickly. It is this: Major powers periodically invade minor countries that irritate them, but they do not lightly mess with other nuclear states.

For a variety of reasons, most of them foolish and having to do with national prestige, India created a nuclear arms race in South Asia. Having pulled both itself and Pakistan into the nuclear club, India has to calm down and engage Pakistan with the same terrified delicacy with which the United States, Russia and China treat each other.
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/28/opinion/28KRIS.html