Author: Report by Chidanand Rajghatta
Publication: The Times of India
Date: December 12, 2001.
Washington: As Pakistan fights
an uphill battle to be relevant in a post-Taliban Afghanistan, it
has suffered the biggest blow from the country expected to be its chief
patron - the U. S..
Almost every assumption that Islamabad's
military regime made while reversing its diplomatic course - protecting
its nuclear assets, position on Kashmir, and reviving its economy among
others - is coming unstuck.
Relentless exposure in the western
media about the links of Pakistani nuclear scientists with terrorists has
now brought its nuclear programme under the inevitable scrutiny of the
Americans. Washington has also shown no inclination of backing Islamabad's
position on Kashmir and has instead pointedly refused to endorse the "they're
freedom fighters not terrorists" line.
According to some acco8unts, CIA
director George tenet, during a visit to Pakistan last week, demanded greater
access to the Pakistani nuclear establishment for interrogating potential
rogue scientists, including two of them sent on a "sabbatical' to Myanmar.
In fact, the story about the two
scientist being parked in Myanmar was first reported by the Indian intelligence,
pointing to a new cooperation between New Delhi and Washington on proliferation
matters.
While Washington publicly professes
to help Pakistan revive its economy the ground realities are turning out
to be different. An American crackdown on financial transactions
from Islamic countries has virtually paralysed the Pakistani banking operation
sin the U.S.
Washington is also "helping" Pakistan
institute security system at its airports to monitor the suspicious traffic,
and similar uninvited help may be underway at its nuclear installations
too.
But in what may be the cruellest
cut, the domestic American textile lobby has skippered the Bush administration's
effort to secure tarrif reductions for Pakistani textiles. Ironically,
the opposition came fro0m Senator Jesse Helms, not too long back an ardent
Islamabad supporter.
In a recent letter to secretary
of state Colin Powell, Mr Helms railed against Wendy Chamberlain, the U.
S. ambassador to Pakistan, who reportedly suggested that it was the 'patriotic
duty' of Americans to purchase imported textile products from Pakistan
to save its economy.
Pointing out that the U. S. textile
and apparel industry had lost 60,000 jobs during the past year, including
20,000 in his home state of North Carolina alone, Mr Helms said U.S. workers
"deserve better than to hear U.S. officials recommend the purchase of even
more imported goods by Americans under the guise of patriotism. U.
S. diplomats should always be mindful that cheerleading for foreign industry
has serious implications for the national psyche."
Although the administration has
promised to find a way around the boondoggle (By allowing 'non-threatening'
items like carpets and footballs for instance), it does not add up to the
kind of reward Pakistan anticipated.
The one place where Pakistan has
found succour is the international lending institutions, including the
IMF, where it has found the kind of sympathy that has left countries like
Argentine fuming.
A persistent U.S. campaign that
it is important for international community not to allow the Pakistan economy
to capsize has led to hefty infusion of capital although it comes with
severe conditionalities.
