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Huge
aid for Pak, scarce credit for India
What
others
say..........
After
putting India and Pakistan on a par for many years, the US
justification for allocating $700 million (of which $ 300 million in
military aid) to Pakistan in the coming fiscal and a paltry $85
million to India defies logic. But the ambidextrous US state
department officials have neatly explained the disparity away,
though some senators have raised the obvious ham-handedness in US
thinking. Pat comes the state department's official explanation.
Pakistan and India are in different categories. Islamabad is a
frontline ally in fighting terrorism. India is a ``growing world
power''. By and large, India manages its domestic affairs in a
normal way. It is a different kind of relationship when it comes to
Pakistan. What is more, the $700 million is the first installment of
a total commitment of three billion dollars in the next five years.
India needs help in getting rid of its remaining poverty towards
which the US is extending technical assistance etc. The frontline
ally in the fight against terrorism after all is taking a lot of
risk in order to prevent another 9/11.
But
according to all available evidence, most of which have emanated
from US agencies, Pakistan is doing just the opposite and getting
away with it. The proliferation issue has festered relations between
the two countries for a few months. The very father of the Pak bomb
(which was about to be converted into an Islamic bomb) himself was
in the centre of secret sales of nuke materials and information in
which circumstantial evidence shows that several top-ranking army
generals may have been involved, not excepting President Musharraf
himself. The drama of a presidential pardon for the main culprit and
the promise of good conduct by Musharraf have been readily accepted
by President Bush. And yet, reports are current that an important
Pak general has been still promising nuke aid to an African country
which was denied by the host country and Pakistan in a matter of
hours. And yet, the US is extending massive military aid to Pakistan
as if nothing had gone wrong in the relations between the two
countries.
The
US secret agencies are only too aware of the clandestine manoeuvres
going on with the blessings of Pakistan on its border with
Afghanistan in an effort to sustain the fire power of the Taliban
rump. This has made the life of the US-supported government in Kabul
precarious. What is more, the central government of Kabul has very
little control outside Kabul after dusk. In spite of all that
Musharraf has been doing to discipline militants, murders of
innocent citizens and confrontations with Indian security forces in
Kashmir have been going on berserk. And coming to trade, especially
in services, the US stand has not been particularly helpful in
working the dispute settlement mechanism at the World Trade
Organisation. The US attitude has irritated even the European Union
countries. In outsourcing to India, the Bush administration has
taken an ambivalent stand to keep in step with the Democratic party
which is dead against it.
l
The Free Press Journal l | 
