US partial attitude & unfair policies
Asif Haroon Raja
USA is notorious for its double standards and unjust policies. It sees
India from one periscope and Pakistan from another. If Pakistan is being
constantly advised, cautioned, coerced and punished by USA for its
committed and uncommitted sins, justice demands that India too should at
least be advised to let go its old policy of belligerence, haughtiness
and finding excuses to put Pakistan in thick soup. US biased attitude
could have been ignored if Pakistan had betrayed it. Contrarily,
Pakistan has remained in American camp throughout its history in spite
of being repeatedly deceived. Yet USA arm-twists Pakistan on multiple
issues either to serve its own interests or to please India. The
allegations pasted on Pakistan on account of which it is coerced range
from extremism, militancy, terrorism, nuclear proliferation, lack of
democracy, human rights violations and weak institutions. Are these
allegations, if true applicable only to Pakistan and is India free of
these sins? If one takes a dispassionate look at the track record of
India, it is deeply afflicted with all the diseases for which Pakistan
is held guilty.
Unlike India, Pakistan neither has claims over any territory of its
neighbours nor does it nurture any expansionist designs. The South Asian
neighbours of India have suffered at the hands of Indian machinations
and remain wary of its imperialist and hegemonic designs. It is
notorious for indulging in poisonous propaganda campaign and making
false accusations and blaming its neighbours particularly Pakistan on
trumped up charges to exert pressure. It continues to indulge in this
immoral practice unabated despite getting repeatedly exposed. It has an
uncanny habit of transferring its black deeds on the neighbours to hide
its own crimes and also excels in manufacturing false dramas for
blackmailing purposes. Even after lapse of 61 years and having truncated
Pakistan, it has yet not reconciled to existence of Pakistan and seeks
its balkanisation. Historically, Indians have always been very loyal to
those who ruled them whether Muslims or British and follow the same
policy when it comes to dealing with powers that matter. Conversely,
their behaviour towards the weak neighbouring countries wishing to
co-exist peacefully and on equal terms is ruthless and unforgiving. The
desire for establishing Mahabharata is so intense that Indian leaders
keep eying the South Asian States greedily and continue devising plans
how to gobble them.
Shackled by four-fold caste system in which Brahmans are destined to
remain superior and pure while all others inferior and impure, the
Brahmans treat the minorities in India including lower caste Hindus with
derision. Under the farce of secularism which is in name only, they
nurture the dream of Hindutva and keep dreaming of cleansing and
purifying India of all second-rate polluted Kashatryas, Vaisyas and
Sudhras and minorities of other religions. Their abhorrent treatment
meted out to the non-Hindu minorities and low caste Hindus has resulted
in a backlash from all quarters within India and intensified home-grown
terrorism to uncontrollable extents. Out of 608 districts, 231 districts
are up in arms against the state where more than 100 separatist groups
are battling Indian security forces for over 50 years. Except for the
Hindi belt in the centre which has also been penetrated, the entire
peripheral strip of Indian Territory is in the grip of insurgencies some
of which have assumed dangerous proportions. In an attempt to quash the
insurgencies, large-scale security forces are battling the insurgents
and have employed all sorts of coercive and brutal methods but have
failed to achieve any results. In order to weaken the ethnically or
religiously charged insurgents the regions were further subdivided into
smaller states such as the northeastern region was divided into
seven-sister states and Punjab callously subdivided. These measures also
proved illusive and 19 separatist movements are raging with full
intensity.
It is surprising that the US and the western world choose to turn a
blind eye to India’s glaring anomalies. Not only they ignore Indian
leadership fault lines, they encourage and support its actions. US media
and its think tanks which are government controlled spew venom against
Pakistan and derive a sadistic pleasure in projecting its fragmentation.
With regard to Indo-Pakistan antagonism which has its roots in
unresolved Kashmir dispute, the US, western world, Russia and UN have
always favoured India and held Pakistan accountable. The UNSC has at no
stage put pressure on India to honour the 1948 and 1949 UN Resolutions
on Kashmir or not to carryout massive human rights abuses against the
Kashmiris. The US and UN now say that UN Resolutions on Kashmir have
become outdated and hence should be forgotten. While Russia’s vetoes on
Kashmir in favour of India were understandable since India had remained
the camp follower of former Soviet Union till as late as 1991 and had
ardently opposed US policies in the region, US unfriendly stance towards
Pakistan is unexplainable since the latter had remained the most allied
ally of USA and thrice staked its security to safeguard American
interests in the region. Despite Pakistan having become the frontline
state to fight US war on terror and paid a heavy price, USA opted to
reward India and punish Pakistan in the form of drone attacks and
threats to send its forces inside FATA to conduct military operations.
While India was made a strategic partner and awarded civilian nuclear
deal, ten-year defence deal and tens of highly lucrative economic
packages, Pakistan was given only $10 billion economic and military
package spread over five years and that too subject to its performance
on war on terror that was imposed on Pakistan. This amount has not been
doled out in gratis since most of the amount has reverted to USA in form
of consultancy fee and services rendered to US troops. Pakistan army had
to employ nearly 1,50000 troops in FATA and Swat and bear the loss of
over 1200 soldiers and injury to thousands in fighting US war on terror
which got transferred from Afghanistan into Pakistan. While the bulk of
amount was utilised on economic projects, the army received only about
$2 billion or so to maintain such a large force employed in futile
counter insurgency operations against own people since 2002. The only
reason for US silence on Indian security forces atrocities against its
own people and Indian leaders intrigues, double standards and
high-handed policies against neighbours that comes to ones mind is that
USA itself is infected with these ailments in a big way.
It has a bloody track record starting from annihilation of Red Indians;
forced slavery of the Africans for a very long time; its racism and
arrogance; nuclear bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki; indulging in
futile Cold War for over 45 years laced with intrigues against
anti-American and neutral countries; antagonism against Latin American
states; promoting pro-rich capitalism and widening gulf between first
world and third world; large-scale massacre of Vietnamese in the Vietnam
war; using Muslim Mujahideen as cannon fodder for accomplishment of its
grand design to become sole super power and after accomplishing its
mission abandoning them and declaring them as terrorists deserving no
mercy; following anti-Muslim policies and massacring hundreds of
thousands of Afghanis and 1.2 million Iraqis in pursuit of its global
ambitions; training its guns on Pakistan, Iran and Syria. Having adopted
a merciless posture against the Muslims in general and Pakistan in
particular, USA absolves Israel and India of all its crimes against
humanity and patronises the duo unhesitatingly and without any
compunction. USA must support its strategic partner but not at the cost
of another ally to whom it gives false hopes only. It should reverse its
policy of doling out carrots to India and using sticks against Pakistan
and yet maintaining that it is a well-wisher of Pakistan.
—The writer is Retired Brigadier & a defence & political analyst. |
