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| India-Pakistan |
| Rethinking the alliance |
| 2009-04-11 |
| By Ejaz Haider Check out the text of the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act of 2009, officially titled HR 1886, introduced by Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) on April 2 and currently referred to the committee. If this bill did not relate to a serious issue in the backdrop of a very grim situation facing Pakistan and this region, one might have dismissed it as a bad joke. While it would be an essential exercise to deconstruct it clause by clause to lay bare its intent, and one hopes the Foreign Office will do exactly that, it is important here to at least point to what is obvious. First, the bill and some of its clauses, especially those pertaining to India's interest, are the work of Indian lobbying. That, one should, without any grudge, say is excellent work from India's perspective. Equally, one might ask what effort, if any, was made by us to thwart India's designs. The question, however, is this: should the United States be dealing with Pakistan on the basis of its (US) interests or India's? The question, at this stage, assumes quite arbitrarily that US interests vis-Ã -vis Pakistan may be different from India's. Increasing evidence may even put paid to this assumption but for now we shall not touch upon that. One may also assume that given the Obama administration's own rhetoric, the US faces a grave threat in the region, which it cannot tackle without Pakistan's help. Logically this means that the US should be trying to find points of convergence with Pakistan. Coming up with a bill that does not even purport to hide its India tilt is a strange way of doing that. |
| Posted by:john frum |
| #2 the Pakistan Enduring Assistance and Cooperation Enhancement (PEACE) Act of 2009 We need to find the person who thinks up these stupid-ass names for bills in the House and give them the beating they so richly deserve. |
| Posted by: SteveS 2009-04-11 10:49 |
| #1 |
| Posted by: john frum 2009-04-11 08:57 |