It is in interest of Indian and Pakistan to take lead in resolving their crises and should use the regional platform to address the problem and not become henpeck of the USA
Amit Ranjan
Indo-Pakistan relations, since partition of the subcontinent in 1947, have been manufactured in the policy-making industries of the western countries. They have successfully dictated their terms over the policy-making process in two south Asian rival countries and also effectively decided about the nature of relationship between them.
The visit of the US President Barak Obama to the subcontinent in November is a part of this decades old policy of superpower to dictate its term to the subcontinent. The recent two rounds of inconclusive talks, which took place between India and Pakistan, without any reason and agenda, was covertly directed and been dictated by USA.
Barak Obama will be the first US President to pay visit to the subcontinent, in his first term. This is not due to growing importance of the region rather to compel India and Pakistan to work together as an agent of USA to fulfil its political, economic and military interests in Afghanistan. In past whenever the US Presidents have paid visit to this region, in their lame-duck period, they have provided economic aid to the countries and made different statements in different countries. After their return to the White House some of them have even forgotten the texts of their statements. All of them on their visit to the subcontinent have consistently emphasised on the importance of democracy, peace between India and Pakistan etc. But it’s the US which has supported the military dictators to lead coup and remain in power by destabilising the civilian governments in Pakistan and they are also responsible for arms race, which has perpetuated continuous tensions between India and Pakistan.
Various terror groups, which are creating havoc, have mushroomed from time to time due to the erstwhile policies of the US led western allies, towards the South Asia. They groomed the youngsters to fight its war against the invasion of Afghanistan by the former USSR in 1970s. The teenagers were told to fight to save their co-believers and in the name of Islam they were misled by the Pakistani government and Pashtoon leaders. Once the US aim fulfilled they left on their own without taking any interests in them. That led to emergence of anti-Americanism among those people, which was exploited by those who wanted to channelise the energy of those youths for their self-interest. Thus the problem started and the perpetrators and victims both were the innocent people from the sub-continent.
After sheer negligence of the south Asian regional hegemony and counter hegemonic power, in almost all decision-making processes relating to Afghanistan, now the US administration has realised their importance to use them to fulfil its own self- interest. At present India is their favourite than Pakistan and also a military power of the region. It can do what US led ISAF is doing in Afghanistan. It is also one of the largest investor in Afghanistan so it’s very easy to persuade India to send its military to safeguard its economic interests. India can be also use for it through an excuse that it is facing menace of terrorism, which has its base in Afghanistan. On that Indian people can be easily persuaded but in reality if Indian army goes to Afghanistan then it will protect the material and military interests of the USA.
Pakistan is already fighting half battle, which was started by the USA, in its border areas with Afghanistan. Due to the ongoing war in Afghanistan and Pakistan’s military’s response, in support of the US, the whole state has being disturbed and under the grip of terror groups. With overtly military interference in Afghanistan Pakistan is going to suffer the worst because of the influence of TTP and the presence of massive anti-American constituency in Pakistan. Civilian government of Pakistan has extended the tenure of its Army Chief Parvez Kyani, who is best bet at present for the US administration to lead Pakistani Army against the Taliban forces in Afghanistan and northern Pakistan.
It is in interest of the two South Asian regional powers to take lead in resolving the crisis in Afghanistan but that should not be at the cost of their own security. They should use the regional platform to address the problem and not become henpeck of the USA and fulfil its interest at their cost. In last summit of SAARC, held at Thimpu, the member states, following the charter (which does not allow the member states to comment on the internal problems of the other, even if that has grave consequences for the entire region) have not raised their concerns over the ongoing crisis in Afghanistan. It’s not that the member states have always earnestly followed the charter rather they have used it whenever they wished to criticize their regional rivals from that platform, but seldom has this platform been used by them for constructive work of the region.
There is a saying that once bitten twice shy. The leadership from the subcontinent has failed to learn and understand the in-depth meaning of this phrase. They are still ready to fight the USA-interested wars at their own cost. They seem lacks the farsightedness and also do not want to learn from the history of the US role in the subcontinent, which always wanted to keep the region disturb for its own interest. Policy makers from both countries are well aware about the fact that they are going to get bargained from the US administration. They will certainly going to receive monetary or military help from the US. But that help may prove to be a disastrous to their long term interest. This region is the most disturbed region of the world and in case the two countries militarily get engaged in Afghanistan things will be going to get worse.
Finally a caveat, the political leadership of India and Pakistan must not carry on with the words of Obama. They must acknowledge that in international politics the important thing is to protect self-interest of a nation. Therefore they must take cognizance of their long-term self-interest rather then blindly following the diktats from the White House and Pentagon.
Author is PhD scholar in South Asian Studies,
School of International Studies,
Jawaharlal Nehru University and can mailed at amitranjan.jnu@gmail.com
