LOS ANGELES: A terrorist attack on the Indian Parliament on Dec 13 killed 14 people, including the five attackers. The same two groups that attacked the Parliament carried out a similar suicide attack on the legislative assembly In Indian-occupied Kashmir and killed 38 people on Oct 1.
India blames Pakistan for harbouring terrorist groups that strike Indian targets. Pakistan denies those charges, but has agreed to freeze financial assets of the two groups, which have been declared terrorist by the United States as well.
The US intervention was welcomed by India - especially the freezing of assets of terrorist groups and a statement by President Bush condemning terrorism against India. But tensions between the two South Asian rivals continue at a level not seen for years.
Both countries have moved troops as well as missiles along their common border, and India has recalled its ambassador from Pakistan - a step that India took 30 years ago when the two countries fought their third war. The number of diplomats in each other’s capital has been reduced by half, and a ban has been declared on air, rail and bus travel between the two countries.
For years, the United States considered South Asia, including India, Pakistan and Afghanistan, a region of low priority. The United States got involved only if hostilities broke out or if communism became a threat during the Cold War, as when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan in 1979.
The US interest in the region changed dramatically with the testing of nuclear weapons by both India and Pakistan in 1998. Any doubts about the region’s importance were removed with the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept 11 and the resulting war on terrorism.
The United States had imposed economic and military sanctions against Pakistan (as well as against India) as punishment for developing nuclear weapons. The US was also unhappy about the military coup in Pakistan that brought the current leader, President Pervez Musharraf, to power in October 1999. Now Pakistan has become a valuable ally of the United States in the war on terrorism. During the Cold War also, it was on the US side.
When Pakistan was asked for help in fighting terrorism and the war in Afghanistan, it demanded and received from the US economic assistance and debt relief that has already surpassed $1 billion and may eventually amount to more than $3 billion. The lifting of sanctions and the influx of massive American foreign aid will keep Musharraf in power for some time. Musharraf’s decision to side with the United States in the current war, despite domestic opposition, was, therefore, a well-calculated one.
Pakistan has made its airspace and some bases available to the US for the bombing campaign against Afghanistan. Since many of the members of the Taliban and Al Qaeda are now attempting to cross into Pakistan, Musharraf is helping in sealing the border with Afghanistan and arresting those who try to sneak through.
India has become important in this war as an indirect player. If India and Pakistan start a war, Pakistan would likely remove troops from its border with Afghanistan to fight in that war, thus enabling the Taliban and Al Qaeda to cross over. The armed forces of Pakistan and the public would likely support Musharraf in the war with India.
Of course, a war between the two nuclear adversaries is in itself a nightmarish scenario that the US and the rest of the world would like to prevent. It is, therefore, certainly in the US interest to prevent a war between India and Pakistan. —Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) The Hartford Courant.