US paints Pakistan further in a
corner By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The recent peace talks between Indian
and Pakistani leaders have helped push along the
so-called "Track 2" diplomatic initiatives between the
countries, but strategic quarters in Islamabad believe
that the US approach to the Kashmir dispute, which
Islamabad views as a purely regional issue between India
and Pakistan, will prevent any significant breakthrough.
Security contacts in Islamabad tell Asia Times
Online that Pakistan is highly concerned that the United
States is favoring India too much, and that Washington
is setting the Kashmir agenda to focus primarily on the
new round of violence and human-rights violations there
at the expense of measures to take the talks ahead.
The contacts point out that the United States'
obsessive policies toward South Asia in the
post-September 11, 2001, environment fail to recognize
the fact that Pakistan still has a strong bargaining
chip in its support - and willingness to use - militant
groups in the Kashmiri struggle.
Washington
appears to be blinded by President General Pervez
Musharraf going along with certain anti-terror measures,
such as banning some militant groups, but these were
done under duress, and the reality is that Pakistan's
real policymakers - an oligarchy of retired and present
military officers - fully embrace the use of Islamic
extremism to realize strategic goals.
For
Washington not to treat Pakistan as an equal partner
with India, then, is to risk a serious backlash that
would scuttle the emerging peace process.
Yet
Washington is doing exactly this. Although the
administration of US President George W Bush has
bestowed "major" non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty
Organization) ally status on Pakistan, ostensibly as a
reward for its support in the "war on terrorism", the US
has still offered to sell an advanced defense-shield
system to India. This goes against the spirit of
Pakistan being a non-NATO ally, which also involves
Pakistan allowing the US to use its bases. Pakistan has
also been denied a deal on F-16 aircraft. Washington
has, however, written off millions of dollars in
Pakistani debt.
Also, on the United States'
insistence, Pakistan has not raised the question of
India building a huge fence along the Line of Control
(LoC) that separates Pakistani- and Indian-administered
Kashmir, which is tantamount to Islamabad accepting the
LoC as the permanent border, something it bitterly
disputes. Most of the confidence-building measures
Pakistan has adopted with India have been under US
pressure.
In return, in Islamabad's view, the
Indian side has not made any concessions. As a result of
secret talks between the two countries, several options
have been mooted for resolving the Kashmir issue, with
the national leadership obliged to "float trial
balloons" to gauge public opinion. For example,
Musharraf has openly discussed the "Chanab trusteeship
formula" at various forums and with the press and
political leaders.
However, there has been no
such move from the Indian side to inform the public on
new developments. Indeed, the major component of the
opposition parties, the former ruling Bharatiya Janata
Party, has revived agitation to scrap Article 370 from
the Indian constitution, which suggests a special status
for the Muslim-majority Kashmir state. This has
completely set the Indian leadership on the defensive
and they appear incapable of taking a single new step on
Kashmir.
These developments had given rise to a
deep-rooted feeling in Pakistan's ruling oligarchy that
any talks between India and Pakistan will be devoid of
substance, and that an escalation in cross-border
militancy is the only way to force the Indian (US) side
into making a genuine effort on Kashmir.
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