Author: TV Parasuram
Publication: The Hindustan Times
Date: June 8, 2002
The US should not be enticed by
Pakistan into becoming a mediator on Kashmir as it would make Washington
an "unwitting pawn" of Islamabad and jeopardise an important long-term
relationship with India, a US-based think-tank has warned.
Trying to be a mediator would be
a "frustrating thankless role for the US. Once entangled, Washington would
be continuously prodded by Pakistan to pressure India to make concessions.
...Washington already has one diplomatic headache in the Middle East. It
doesn't need another one in South Asia," Ted Galen Carpenter, Vice President
for Defence and Foreign Policy Studies at the Cato Institute, said.
The US, he said, should exert its
influence to get India and Pakistan to retreat from the abyss of war. "But
the Bush Administration needs to understand that Islamabad is also trying
to manoeuvre Washington into playing a role that would advance Pakistan's
policy goals regarding Kashmir.
"It is imperative that the United
States not play that game. America must not jeopardise an important long-term
relationship with India by becoming Pakistan's unwitting pawn."
Carpenter noted that President Pervez
Musharraf "not only repeatedly provoked India by allowing Kashmiri insurgents
to operate from Pakistan's territory, but when the crisis flared in recent
weeks, he seemed willing, if not eager, to intensify it. Pakistan's decision
to test its missile on three separate occasions in the midst of an already
tense situation is testimony to that fact."
