NEW YORK, March 22: Pakistani American groups on Tuesday expressed outrage at former Senator Larry Pressler’s article in Monday’s New York Times in which he termed Pakistan a profitless partner. Mr Pressler, who works for an Indian IT company, Infosys, urged the United States not to sell F-16s to Pakistan because, as he put it, the country is not democratic. He also accused Pakistan of transferring nuclear material to “our worst enemies”.
Mr Pressler asked the Bush administration “to look clearly at the biggest problem in the region: China”. He said India could become a bulwark against China, adding: “We should tell Beijing that we will help India match China’s arms buildup and that we will work toward a modified free-trade agreement with India to help it offset China’s state-dominated trade practices”.
Syed Asif Alam, President of the Association of Pakistani Professionals (AOPP), noted that “Pressler Amendment, which Senator Pressler introduced in the early 90s, is the biggest puzzle of distrust and twaddle in the volatile region of South Asia”.
“The fact of the matter is that Pressler Amendment crippled Pakistan’s air force and created dangerous imbalance of conventional forces in South Asia. While Pakistan was under our sanctions, India accelerated its global weapon acquisitions, including from the United States. Today, when India faces no credible threat, its military budget stands in excess of 15 billion dollars, while Pakistan’s budget hovers around 3.5 billion dollars”, Mr Alam pointed out.
