Obamas visit to India and his complete surrender before Indian demands seem to have surprised many in Pakistan, especially the Foreign Office which seems to have been asleep while preparations for the visit were being made and many telling statements were already coming out of Washington. Now suddenly they have woken up and started mutterings in response to the Obama statement assuring India of US support in its bid for a permanent seat in the UN Security Council. Much is being made of the fact that the US has effectively endorsed Indian state terrorism in Occupied Kashmir and Indian contravention of UNSC resolutions not really expected behaviour from a state seeking to enter the UNSCs select group of permanent members. That this makes a mockery of the UN is rather apparent, but the UN has become a bit of a bad joke on issues of peace and security its primary function ever since the end of bipolarity and the US abuse of the UN for its own purposes from the Iraq war under the notion of coalition of the willing to Afghanistan and the rubber stamping of the NATO coup over ISAF.
The status of the UN should have been apparent when the US pushed for a compliant Secretary General from South Korea and Ban Ki-moon has not disappointed the US, nor its strategic partner India, with his bizarre approach to the human rights abuses in Occupied Kashmir!
Of course, everyone is trying to explain how it is the Indian economy and its vast market that has pushed the US into the Hindutva lap, but that is only part of the picture. True the Indian market is vast and orders placed for US goods will help the presently-strapped US economy, especially in terms of saving jobs and so on especially in the strategic arms and dual-use technology sectors, including the nuclear industry. In fact, India and the US have been signing vast arms deals since the 2000 Vision Document signed between Clinton and the Indians which formalised what was already an evolving strategic relationship. And within the present context, the US has already signed a huge jets deal with Saudi Arabia worth $60 billion so it is not as if India has been singled out solely in terms of trade and arms deals.
No. India is being given all these goodies because India has been singled out as a strategic partner for the US so it is not trade and markets that have played the major role, but the strategic politico-military role that has led to the trade deals which, apart from the easing of export controls for dual-use technology transfers and the nuclear component, are not so unique. After all, China is also a major trading partner of the US and Saudi Arabia is a major weapons buyer, but they do not get the export control exceptions for sensitive technologies and other strategic privileges that are being conceded to India. So those Indian apologists, who are trying to tell Pakistanis that if we can straighten out our economy we will be able to get the US to give us similar trade deals, should know that the issue of concern for Pakistan is something totally different or at least it should be.
This issue of concern is the way Pakistan is viewed by the US both the government and the media. If one wants to really understand how poorly in fact downright demeaning the Americans think of Pakistan a quick read of the new Woodward book, Obamas Wars, will put the record straight. The hate and suspicion that lie in the minds of all the players in the US administration and establishment players such as Bruce Reidel comes out at every opportunity. The 9/11 trauma still haunts the US psyche and we are their easiest target for a variety of reasons our commitment to Muslim causes and our nuclear capability being two factors. Our ISI is seen as duplicitous, while the CIA is innocently upfront and straight; General Kayani is labelled a liar in no uncertain terms and President Zardari is regarded at best as inept and totally out of it as far as any understanding of issues is concerned! The quotes from the latter also betray the total contempt in which our own leaders hold their people. Perhaps, the most telling statement is from Ambassador Haqqani on what he thinks Pakistan is all about.
Any Pakistani, who had even an iota of faith in Haqqani doing good by Pakistan, will be left in no doubt as to how Haqqani views his country and the people in it. Of course, for some his views were already crystal clear in his book, Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military.
However, it is our fault because despite clear signals from the Americans, our leaders continue to lay themselves prostrate before the US and its destructive demands. In return, all they get is more intrusive behaviour on the part of the US be it through the Kerry-Lugar Act or the IMF. As of now, the US is going to have access in all our Ministries with their people placed there to ensure the aid being given is spent properly. In addition, vast amounts of money are being poured in to win over crucial segments of civil society like the media. Meanwhile, the hard payments that are owed to us like the Coalition Support Fund are still outstanding, while we have already incurred the costs. Perhaps the most stark reflection of the barely concealed hate and disgust with which Pakistans leaders and the nation are viewed by the US is the drone killings, the disrespect for the law within Pakistan by US citizens, and the cavalier manner in which NATO intrudes into Pakistani territory and kills its citizens at will. And why shouldnt the leaders and nation be viewed in this fashion by the US, when leaders acquiesce to these actions and our people are seemingly helpless in altering their leaders mindsets.
The real question for us is how much more abuse we are going to suffer at the hands of the Americans before we realise that we do not have common strategic goals; that the so-called Strategic Dialogue was merely a farce where nothing strategic was discussed amongst two strategic partners; and that the US is moving fast to make us a client state where eventually they will also control our nuclear assets.
However, we are not really as helpless as our leaders would have us believe. After all, the US presently needs us more than we need them and we should assert ourselves and seek a renegotiation of the terms of our cooperation with them, including in terms of access to Afghanistan. One drone brought down by the PAF, which has claimed it has the technical capability, will send the correct message to the US also. As for the economy, if our IMF surrogates were shown the door and more focus was put on collecting taxes from those who should be paying rather than on simply breaking the back of the masses by constantly increasing indirect taxation, and corruption was truly rooted out with the big fish being netted first, there could be an economic turnaround. But for that an honest and dedicated leadership is required and that is invisible.
Unfortunately, until we the nation can truly reject our traditional leaders, we will always be exposed to the murderous designs of the US. This is what lies at the heart of our problem with the US. That is why the US will continue to give nuclear aid and support the Indian bid for the UNSC, while raining down drone missiles and covering each dollar that may reluctantly have to come our way with criticism and abuse!
