Not with 'US' any more

| by Salman Shahid Alvi

Jeddah,Saudi Arabia

(October 01, Jeddah - Saudi Arabia , Sri Lanka Guardian) Trammeled with favors innumerable and obligated to give handsome returns,Pakistan has now somehow managed to tear apart the monotonic reticence after a long time.History tells us that diplomatic relations were established between Pakistan and United States on the 20th of October,1947 and the former has ever since been subjected to continuous exertion by the latter.The flippancy of US towards Pakistan can easily be gauged by its stringent policies that have for long been part of those pacts and agreements signed thereafter.

As we all know that Pakistan is a major non-NATO ally of the USA and their relations have seen many ups and downs in this period of around sixty-five years.There was a time in the 1950s when the US administration addressed Pakistan as its “most-allied ally” in Asia.But later in 1965 during the Indo-Pak war,no military support was given to Pakistan which thereby marked the first signs of declining trust among the two countries.The room of mistrust proliferated further when economic assistance(except food) was stopped in April,1979 because of US’s concerns over Pakistan’s nuclear program.However,it is evident that the era of Ayub Khan from 1952 to 1969 portrayed a healthy bonding between the countries in those early years of bilateral relations unlike in the reign of Bhutto and General Zia.Then once again in 1990,the united States suspended all economic and military aid to its ally under the Pressler Amendment which required annual certification from the President that Pak “does not posses a nuclear explosive device”. Despite the impertinent conduct of US,Pakistan still joined the “war on terror” as its ally after the episode of 9/11.In support,Pakistan provided military airports and bases to US for attacking Afghanistan and in turn was reciprocated by monetary gains and was allowed to buy advanced American military technology.Many are of the opinion that at the time of Musharraf,the party in power thought that they had found a panacea and prolonged the process of palaver.The post 9/11 scenario in Pakistan has shown vital signs of decadence in terms of the country’s serenity.It has lost the lives of thousands of civilians and soldiers due to the suicide bombings that take place oftentimes whereas it was unheard of before 9/11.Once Barrack Obama joined office as the President,it was expected that the non-military aid would be tripled to $1.5 Billion every year for a decade so as to ease the economy and civil institutions of Pakistan.

If we classify the confabulations betwixt Pakistan and America over the years,a few major phases come to mind in a flash right from the Baghdad pact to the very recent Operation Neptune Spear that claimed to have killed Osama bin Laden.Talking about Laden’s death,US had been intransigent in this respect and always insisted that Pakistan has knowingly let Osama reside on its soil.And the news of the same staggered and flabbergasted quite a few around the world.To put it in the words of US officials,Pakistan never paid heed to what it was always cognizant of.The recent agitation and strong rejoinders from the government officials over the accusations of Admiral Mike Mullen regarding ISI’s relations with Haqqani network,have crushed beneath the pervasive air of oppression that had been blowing forcefully after the Raymond Davis case.Thwarted now seem the plans of America,after the newly created fuss over this issue.

The freshly appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs,Hina Rabbani Khar also strongly condemned the way United States has dealt with issues in the past few days.She said that America is likely to lose an ally if allegations are not stopped.Pakistan always has a good option by having China at its disposal in any kind of emergency.Let us hope that things get better and peace prevails along with justice in the days ahead.