amit wrote:Track II is something GoI supports and I would suspect funds as well. Whatever Fai was doing was being funded by ISI. And so unless you're trying to say that was the Pak version of Track II, I don't see the connection.
That's precisely what I am saying...Track II stuff is sponsored by all govts - India, Pak, China, US, UK (Track II is a uniquely "South Asian" definition though)...There are multiple uses of these jamborees...The "useful" use is to see the reaction to trial balloons - how key opinionmakers react to a proposal...The other use is to simply curry some low-key favour through sponsorship of such jamborees in exotic places...
The SOP for such conferences is standard -first get a couple of "officials" to confirm attendance - usually senators, congressmen, MPs, former ministers..then get the usual suspects - journos, academics et al...This Fai character obviously had good connections in the Hill, hence the "credibility" was there I guess...
amit wrote:Face it these a*holes were lured by a business class ticket and "some luxury" (I wonder did that include, at least for some, both inanimate as well as animate "luxury"?)
Well, it might interest you to know that a lot of Indo-Pak Track IIs are held in Bangkok
Net net, while some of the participants might have erred in judgement, its too much to taint all of them with ISI-collusion..Thats all..
JE Menon wrote:She may have fallen for the perks, but my gut feeling is that if she had any inkling of Fai's links, she probably would not have gone...
+1...Ditto for some of the others as well IMO....