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US sticking to traditional anti-Pak policies on core issues with India: Pak official | | As US President Barack Obama left for a three-day
visit to India on Friday, a senior Pakistani official accused the United States of following its traditional anti-Pakistan policies on core issues, including
the Kashmir dispute. "Unfortunately, on core issues, the US continues to stick
to its traditional anti-Pakistan policies - whether it is our nuclear energy programme,
the Kashmir dispute, our relations with India or our position vis-a-vis Afghanistan,"
The Washington Post quoted a senior Foreign Ministry official, as saying, on the
condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the relationship. "So long
as Washington does not revisit these issues, it will continue to be very difficult
for Washington to make any headway on winning hearts and minds in Pakistan ,"
the official added. Obama's decision to spend three days in India beginning Saturday,
while bypassing Pakistan, has sparked anxiety among government officials in Islamabad,
who warn that the US president risks upsetting the delicate balance of power between
the nuclear-armed neighbours, the paper said. Among the Pakistanis' chief concerns
are the Obama administration's apparent unwillingness to get involved in the long-standing
dispute over Kashmir ; the blossoming US-India civil nuclear partnership; and
the symbolism of Obama starting his visit at the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, site of
the 2008 siege that killed 173 people, and that has been blamed on Pakistani militants,
it added. "If there is an effort to build India up as a regional influence, a
country that is assigned the responsibility for security in the region, that is
unacceptable for Pakistan," said Maleeha Lodhi, a former ambassador to Washington,
adding, "Clearly, for deterrence to work, we need the minimum threshold of conventional
balance." Pakistani officials say they are particularly interested in seeing Obama
push India to do more to settle the decades-old dispute over Kashmir, which is
claimed by both India and Pakistan , the paper said. "We expect America to use
its influence to nudge India in the direction of initiating a peaceful dialogue
on the Kashmir situation," said Tariq Fatemi, another former Pakistani ambassador
to the United States . "And if that is difficult, then at least use your position
to point out to India that the interest in human rights is deep and broad-based
in America and you cannot have daily violations of human rights." According to
the paper, Pakistani government officials said that, at the least, they expect
Obama "to avoid the confrontational stance taken by British Prime Minister David
Cameron, who said during a July speech in India that Pakistan is promoting the
'export of terror'."
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