The two-day Pakistan-US Strategic Dialogue being held in Islamabad next week will focus on Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan and a rapid increase in tensions with India.
In an interview, Pakistan Ambassador to United States Jalil Abbas Jilani said there has been a steady progress in relations with Afghanistan since the election of a new government in Kabul. He acknowledged that recent clashes on India-Pakistan border were a cause of concern in both Washington and Islamabad.
The ambassador said the discussions will cover economy and trade, energy, counter-terrorism, defence, nuclear non-proliferation, education and science and technology.
The Pakistani side will also give a briefing on the new national consensus against terrorism, which emerged after the Taliban attack on a school in Peshawar.
Pakistan needs to adopt intense diplomatic measures to cater international support against Indian hegemonic designs. With the rising firing of Indian Forces on border, Pakistan should also highlight hypocrite acts taken by non-proliferation regimes to facilitate India on international forums. Pakistan must also unveil India’s phony democratic posture by highlighting grave human rights violations against minorities as well as low-caste Hindus in various parts of India.
The emerging ties between Pakistan and US by the very visit of Kerry to Islamabad shows that international players are playing their cards to secure their regional interests in South Asia. But the discriminatory attitude of USA towards Pakistan in the non proliferation regime is quite disturbing for the regional strategic stability and to make the hegemonic designs of India boosted. At one point USA favors the very nuclear and military developments of India but on the other side the same country intends to discuss the non proliferation issue with Pakistan. This is quite dichotomous to see.
The changed context of U.S.-Pakistani interaction over the past year both permits and requires a reappraisal reflecting the complexity of the relationship. This is an exceedingly delicate task given the conflicting pressures-the interrelated concerns of the United States for stability and for progress in the democratic experiment, the need to maintain a mutually beneficial relationship with Pakistan that does not arouse unrealistic expectations on either side, the sometimes conflicting elements of global and regional policies (whether toward Afghanistan, India or the Persian Gulf), and a realistic assessment of the tools that we have available to pursue our policy objectives. More than anything else, perhaps, it requires a recognition that there can no longer be a patron-client relationship between our two countries. Pakistan is a mature international actor that must be dealt with on a basis of sovereign equality and with the realism that has increasingly characterized U.S.-Pakistani dealings in the past several years.
The US should not exacerbate its already difficult relations with Pakistan by encouraging Pakistan’s existential enemy to involve itself further in Afghanistan. The fact is, India has no convincing strategic interests in the country other than to threaten Pakistan. From a Pakistani perspective, the US has spent the last decade offering Pakistan things of second order importance, such as cash and military supplies, while demanding in return offerings of first order importance, including changes in how Pakistan protects its sovereignty and defines its strategic interests.
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