It's unclear what Mr. Jaswant Singh is trying to say with his piece "India's Iraq problem"! It is true that "Iraq seems to be falling apart", but it is not the case with India! While Iraq's border with "with its turbulent western neighbor" - Syria - blurs, it is not true that "the tumult is now threatening to spread to two more nearby countries, Afghanistan and Pakistan".

The AfPak region has long been a hotbed of Islamic extremism. Yet America's "war on terror" had killed several key figures of Al-Qaeda and its affiliates. Many of their fighters had left for Iraq during the US-led invasion in 2003. A new group "Al-Qaeda in Iraq" was formed and its militants fought in Syria, when the civil war broke out. They returned to Iraq recently under the banner of ISIS .

Mr. Singh says: "For India, the message is clear: its national security interests are at risk". He describes the insecurity in Afghanistan, as no new government been formed, due to electoral fraud and ethnic strife. The new president should sign the Bilateral Security Agreement with the US, in order to prevent Afghanistan from relapsing into insurgency. Mr. Singh fears also that Pakistan, India's arch rival is once again embroiled in combating home-grown terrorism, after the brazen attacks on Karachi International Airport.

It's true that the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which "created a new map of the Middle East" has now being rejected by ISIS, which has declared its own caliphate. Pashtun nationalists in Pakistan may be trying to erase the Radcliffe Line, which was announced in 1947 to mark the boundaries between India and Pakistan. But they are far from setting up their own "Pashtunistan".

That "Iraq has lost control over its border crossings with Syria" had much Nouri al-Maliki's incompetence and sectarian policies to thank for. Although India's armed forces leave a lot to be desired, but they must have a better morale than Iraq's. Just because India has "177 million Muslims, both Sunni and Shia", doesn't necessarily mean that it would face similtar sectarian strife. Indeed, the Muslim population will be a litmus test for India's ability to forge a peaceful coexistence.

Finally Mr. Singh believes the "region needs a new security paradigm" and urges India to "take an active role in creating it". As China exerts influence on Afghanistan and Pakistan, he thinks Beijing's policies there could reveal "how China views its relations with India".

Mr. Singh seems to see India being marginalised in its relationship with China. On the one hand, it welcomes China "to cooperate with India and others to forge a new structure of peace for the greater Middle East". On the other hand they fear that China may just focus on realpolitik and "pursue small tactical advantages".

