Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, has come and gone, leaving behind a script that is quite familiar-been there, heard that. Powell, to be fair, didn't say anything that was entirely original. He only reiterated what America has been saying about Kashmir all along, more or less. And when he suggested a role for international observers in Kashmir elections, Delhi, quite understandably, said no. As a functional democracy, India certainly knows how to conduct a credible election. Powell didn't make a big issue of it either. But one word from the secretary's mouth had a section of the political class crying "Insensitive America". He said, much to the dismay of those who never stop seeing US conspiracy in India's national life, that Kashmir is on the international agenda. International-that was the word that hurt the most. Who can say it is not? Actually, this Government has done well for itself by internationalising Kashmir. Post 9/11, Kashmir, one of the enduring battlefields of militant Islam, got the global attention-and endorsement-it deserves. That may be one reason why there was no official rebuttal of Powell's Kashmir doctrine.

Still, the secretary's plainspeak was too much for some; the Opposition even went to the extent of accusing the Government of surrendering its sovereignty to Washington. This accusation is born of a lack of confidence in the integrity of the nation. It is okay for the nationally paranoid to portray America as a global bogeyman. India is not so desperate. It cannot be so touchy when it comes to Kashmir and the world-more specifically, Kashmir and America. It is misplaced hypersensitivity considering that the Delhi-Washington engagement, built on national interests and principles, is the best thing that has happened in India's post-Cold War foreign policy. The relationship, though, doesn't mean that America will say only what India wants to hear. It won't happen for the simple reason that America, having assumed, rightly or wrongly, the role of the global commander-in-chief of peace with a self-serving moral value system, will only talk in high principles. Powell's Kashmir vision was no exception. In the subcontinent, for America, it is a case of being caught between the natural ally and the convenient ally. If the Indian political class accepts this reality, it won't always be offended by the so-called US insensitivity.