Daily Times

‘Howdy Modi’ is in the United States indeed doing very well. Huge Indian Diaspora though shadowed by Kashmiri protestors against 49-day long lockdown following abrogation of Article 370 that had given the Occupied State a special status in the Indian Union, did their Prime Minister and the country proud by holding a welcome in Houston attended by nearly 50,000 enthusiastic Indian Americans. And the redeeming feature of the occasion was that Modi’s ‘friend’ President Donald Trump was there with him in attendance sharing the Centre-stage clasping each others hands as a symbol of friendship between two biggest democracies in the world.

This was perhaps the third and yet the most important meeting of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s with the American President after he had been once refused American visa on ground of his black human rights record for the genocide of Muslims when he was Chief Minister in the Indian state of Gujrat. Ever since then bilateral relations between India and United States have developed into sound strategic partnership seeking common goals in the region.

The two countries have a shared agenda for addressing a number of regional and global issues, including economic and technological cooperation, countering terrorism and ensuring regional stability. India is an attractive proposition for the US as a big market for American goods, services and investment. There is no doubt that Washington views India as a stabilising military and economic power in the region. That being that, there are areas where the two countries do not share similarity of views. Indians have their own understanding of relations with their next door neighbour China while Americans are at loggerheads with Beijing over trade and tariffs. Both the countries view Pakistan as a source of terrorism.

In the Houston mega show the two leaders orchestrated the same page mantra regarding so-called Islamic terrorism. Both pledged to fight it together as a common enemy. In his passing and yet a deliberate attempt by Modi to hit out at Pakistan as a source of Delhi’s troubles, he, indeed, threw diplomatic parameters to the wind by abusing host country’s hospitality by using rather harsh language in his criticism of Pakistan-a fact that even raised the eye brow of his host who tried to console Imran Khan by expressing his exception to Modi’s diatribe. He offered a cold swab to chill his “good friend” Khan’s wounded ego by suggesting to him to play a role larger than his life as a facilitator between Washington and Teheran to cool down heating relations between the two. As regards Kashmir, President Trump offered Khan Hobson’s choice. “I am ready to mediate, you are ready for it but India is not.” Neither Khan nor his Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi lodged a protest with Washington for Modi’s diplomatic transgression.

Washington has very carefully sustained its global perspective vis-à-vis its policies towards the states of South Asia while Pakistan has a purely regional outlook, conspicuous by its India-centric policies as compared to Delhi’s ambitious regional

Notwithstanding Washington’s new found strategic alley in Delhi, Pakistan’s relations with United States are at best stated in Ayub Khan’s Book ‘Friend, not Master’. Starting as the most trusted alley East of Suez and Pakistan’s subsequent abuse as a subliminal client state with a carte blanche to use its airbases, territory for its geo-strategic military and spying operations in the region and finally in its war against the erstwhile Soviet Union and later with the Taliban in Afghanistan fully backed by Pakistani military as repeatedly acknowledged by Prime Minister Khan. Indeed, as pointed out by President Trump, earlier American Administrations played foul with Pakistan and insisted on to “do more mantra” against Taliban, it resorted to lambasting Pakistan with suspect anti-terrorism and counter-insurgency policies. It also questioned Pakistan’s military’s self-professed role as a bulwark against terrorism.

However, it found itself caught in a Catch-22 situation vis-à-vis Afghanistan when President Trump desperately needed Pakistan’s support for settlement with Taliban to facilitate withdrawal of the American troops and stabilisation before the next Presidential elections. No doubt Pakistan made it difficult for the Americans to allow some scope to India to use its influence. It has been cashing the advantage of geo-strategic location by out maneavouring India in Afghanistan. Although a tough speaking Trump often threatened Pakistan to make it pay for its duplicity of running with the American hare and hunting with the Taliban hounds, realisation of the inevitability of Pakistan’s imperative key role, President Trump had to climb down to feign friendship with Imran Khan. Despite all that, hawks in US administration do not mince words in regretting Pakistan’s double standards in taking action against some militant groups while ignoring others who are tagged to Pakistani intelligence.

In the obtaining situation, American administration adopted two different criteria of relations in dealing with Pakistan and Delhi. Without throwing caution to the wind and gung-ho-ism in conduct of relations, Washington has been well-measuring its steps to deal with the two without annoying one or the other notwithstanding that the two countries do not see eye to eye on each and every other issue. Washington has very carefully sustained its global perspective vis-à-vis its policies towards the states of South Asia while Pakistan has a purely regional outlook, conspicuous by its India-centric policies as compared to Delhi’s ambitious regional. It sees in the United States endorsing Dehli’s itch for primacy in the South Asian region as the regional power without letting any one pursue their relations in a manner that adversely affects India’s diplomatic and security interests—a notion religiously and fanatically opposed by Pakistan.

Pakistan’s geo-strategic location, sitting at the mouth of the Gulf, gives vent to its desire to play a much bigger role in the region especially because of its relations with China and CPEC. If India has a global agenda, Pakistan too has an agenda of its own as the only nuclear Muslim nation that would continue to play a key role in Afghanistan as well countries of the Central Asian republics with their enormous troves of exportable energy sources to the countries of the region. Therefore, both Pakistan and India have legitimate aspirations to outdo each other as active players in the league of global powers, India vying for a permanent seat in the expanded UN Security Council.

Last but not the least, Washington shall have to realise earlier than latter that its agenda for peace, stability and democracy in Afghanistan will be greatly facilitated if it employs its diplomatic influence with India and Pakistan to resolve Kashmir and other bilateral issues. It is good to know that President Trump has promised to persuade Indian Prime Minister Modi to lay off lockdown stage of siege and to call upon India to withdraw 49-day long curfew. Let it be a better beginning for over all settlement of the core issue between Pakistan and India. In case of failure, one cannot rule out the possibility of yet another proxy war in the region worse than the previous with wider catastrophic consequences.

The writer is former High Commissioner of Pakistan to UK and a veteran journalist