Intro: Alliance with Pakistan exposes
the hollowness of US claims of fighting terrorism
Author: Ms Tavleen Singh
Publications: India Today
Dated: October 29, 2001
I would think that faced with one
of the gravest terrorist threats ever, the US would try--just for a moment--to
understand the concerns of a country like India which has suffered terrorism
for 20 years now. Terrorism that can be laid almost entirely at Pakistan's
door. But, no, judging from US Secretary of State Colin Powell's statements,
this is not going to happen. Not only is the US ready to ignore the role
Pakistan has played in the spread of international terrorism and Islamic
fundamentalism, it is even ready to congratulate General Pervez Musharraf
for his "bold and courageous" behaviour and forgive him for not doing more
to hand over Osama bin Laden sooner.
Pakistan's military ruler is sorry,
he says, for not doing this in time to prevent the dreadful attacks of
September 11 and the war that resulted and the Americans are so grateful
for this apology that they are ready to help Pakistan get out of the economic
mess it finds itself in. It is a mess, we must remember, that can be attributed
largely to Pakistan's avid sponsorship of jehad in Afghanistan and Kashmir.
This jehad has been the only foreign policy that Pakistan has pursued in
our neighbourhood and un- surprisingly its economy has paid the price.
But Pakistan is not just forgiven, it is to be rewarded with economic aid
and military cooperation. So we in India can expect the situation in Kashmir
to worsen rather than get better.
The US is not prepared to acknowledge
that for five years now Kashmir's so-called freedom movement has been transformed
into a much bigger war. Despite India's attempts to point out that the
"freedom fighters" being killed in Kashmir are mainly of foreign origin,
despite its attempts to show the world that groups like the Lashkar-e-Toiba
are based in Pakistan and that the Jaish-e-Mohammed has direct links with
bin Laden's Al Qaida network, the Americans apparently remain unconvinced.
When US President George W Bush
turned to Pakistan for help, it had seemed to us in India that Pakistan
had no choice. That it was a pawn, not a player. it is now becoming increasingly
obvious that Pakistan is emerging as a player of considerable importance.
It is, we hear, to avoid hurting Pakistan's feelings that the Northern
Alliance's ragtag band of anti-Taliban warriors hi Afghanistan is not being
given enough support to take Kabul. Pakistan does not want an unfriendly
government in Afghanistan, so it will be allowed to choose a new government
of its liking just as it did earlier when it created and nurtured the Taliban.
Bin Laden was as much a part of the Taliban regime as Mullah Omar is and
you would think that the Americans would have noticed that without direct
support from the Pakistani Government neither would have been able to grow
and thrive. But Musharraf has said sorry, so he is to be forgiven.
Meanwhile, violence continues in
Kashmir. Violence that would be easier for us to control if we were not
dealing with foreign Islamic warriors who come and go from Pakistan as
they please and who use Pakistan as their base and for fund-raising activities.
This is done openly but America is ready to close its eyes. Bush says,
"I think it is very important that India and Pakistan stand down during
our activities in Afghanistan, for that matter forever." His secretary
of state says, "We think that dialogue on Kashmir is important."
So why is there no dialogue with
the Taliban? Why have there been no attempts to negotiate with bin Laden?
And, when the Americans urge us towards dialogue are they aware that they
expect us to negotiate the future of an Indian state only because the Muslim
population in that state believes that it has a right to a special status
because they are Muslims? Is the US aware that it was in an attempt to
keep Muslims happy that India was broken into two countries in the first
place?
It is necessary to ask these questions
when you keep in mind that Bush did not know where Pakistan was or who
it was ruled by till just over a year ago. Since then he has been forced
by events to take a crash course on our region but it still looks as if
the historical nuances escape him..At the moment it is only geography that
matters and Pakistan is taking full advantage of its geographical position.
Pakistan cannot be blamed for revelling
in its new position as the best friend of the world's only superpower.
It is America's duplicity and shameless hypocrisy that is harder to understand.
it is also very hard to understand exactly what Bush means when he asks
India and Pakistan to "stand down forever" on Kashmir. When he finishes
with his war against bin Laden we can only hope he finds time for a few
explanations and for a closer understanding of where Islamic fundamentalism
comes from and the kind of countries that have nurtured it. Bin Laden would
not exist without the support of these countries.
