Discussing Pak-US ties is not an easy feat. I have had scores of inexhaustible debates with friends on the pros and cons of our alliance with the US. If you have been born and bred in Pakistan, you have been raised to know that India is our arch nemesis. Our relationship with India has always been precarious and full of mistrust. However, the resentment, the distrust and the scepticism is now tilted more towards the US. Few regard it as a potential friend, many as an impending foe.
Alliances are based on trust. Our coalition with the Americans is not. Why? Trust disappears when it is dishonoured. Most recently, our sovereignty was challenged when our airspace was violated, radars blocked, and Osama bin Laden purportedly caught. Not just the Americans but a lot of us here in Pakistan were also relieved that bin Laden was captured at last. The fact remains, for every action, there is a reaction. And this action by the US generated a lot of resentment among people who thought Osama was either fighting in the name of religion or those who felt that our army, a revered institution in Pakistan, was left embarrassed in front of the world. Perhaps our government was with the US on the sly. Well, they never acknowledged the complicity so the wrath had to be borne by the US.
Many people in Pakistan feel that the American foreign policy resonates that they are more important than us. Their interests are more important than ours. They can be a nuclear power, we cannot. In recent years, one of the biggest reasons for hostility towards the US has been the drone attacks in our tribal areas. These are considered an infringement of our airspace that kills innocent people. There is another school of thought; those who feel drone attacks are precise, minimise collateral damage and have helped uproot pockets of militancy killing many key leaders. Had the Americans not carried out these attacks, the Pakistan Army would have had to prevent these groups from plotting against Pakistan. In that case, it would have incited more rage amongst people here, not to mention the additional burden on the fledgling economy’s defence budget. However, the group of people who support the drone attacks strategy are in a minority. A majority of the nation is strongly against the invasion of the country’s territorial sovereignty that kills innocent people, a counter-productive move that people feel would generate more terrorists.
It is said the backbone of a country is its economy. Pakistan is in massive debt. We have millions of dollars of loans to pay off. The US lends us money. But these are no blank cheques for our support in the war on terror. These are cheques with strings attached. Thus we feel dictated to by a democracy.
Pakistan has had dictators and democratically elected leaders. The US has supported both. It supported Pervez Musharraf, an army general who came to power through a coup and supported the war on terror. And now it supports President Zardari, a leader swiftly losing his popularity as he surrenders to the demands of the US as well. The message given here is, we consider our own interests only, and not those of the Pakistani people who are ruled by a dictator or a former general.
Perhaps the most infamous American in Pakistan now is Raymond Davis. He is seen by the majority as an American agent who literally got away with murder. He shot and killed two men and had weapons and drugs in his possession. Then foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi was vocal regarding his opinion against the immunity allowed to Davis and had to step down. Even though our government was complicit in accepting blood money and releasing him, nonetheless it added to the list of why Pakistanis hate the US. Again, the masses. This brought President Zardari’s popularity graph lower and the US’s even lower. On the other hand, Dr Aafia Siddiqui, a petite, frail Pakistani woman who was accused of having only attempted to kill US soldiers, was convicted by the US courts of attempted murder, weapons possession and other crimes.
Pakistan is no New York. The recent gay rights event hosted by the US Embassy really did not help overcome cultural barriers but incited rage among conservative Pakistanis. What the Americans see as support of human rights was seen as an assault on Islamic culture. By doing this, is the world’s most talked about alliance building bridges, or bridging the gap? The US, in the fight against terror, should take Pakistan along instead of making it a submissive ally. In order to have a successful strategy, they need to win hearts and minds but by being insensitive to our culture and human lives, they are alienating people and generating further resentment, which would only undermine their strategy. After all, a broken friendship may be soldered but will never be sound.
The writer is a freelance journalist who has worked for Express News and Dunya TV as a news anchor and producer