Improvement in U.S.-Pak relations unlikely

By Amit Baruah

ISLAMABAD, MAY 28. With little forward movement on issues of concern such as curbing terrorism, restoring democracy and reducing tension along the Line of Control (LoC) with India, chances of an immediate improvement in Pakistan-U.S. relations appear to be remote.

The two-day-long talks held by the U.S. Under- Secretary of State, Mr. Thomas Pickering, only go to emphasise the continuing difference of perceptions between Washington and Islamabad even as the two countries remain engaged.

The plainspeaking by the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, during his March 25 stop-over doesn't seem to have woken up the Government of Pakistan to the reality that Islamabad was on the wrong side of the fence when it came to issues such as terrorism, democracy and Afghanistan.

A question that arises from the Pakistan-U.S. engagement is simple: how long will the U.S. continue to hold talks with Pakistan without concrete progress on the core issues of that bilateral relationship? As of now, providing an answer appears to be a difficult task.

While setting out American concerns once again, Mr. Pickering also made it clear that Washington fully supported the economic renewal efforts launched by the Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. ``We discussed Gen. Musharraf's recent statement on economic policies that he is pursuing and I urged that he continue to remain on steady course on this particularly important issue....'' Mr. Pickering told Pakistani reporters on Saturday.

In a message which should be looked at seriously in New Delhi, the U.S. official made it clear that ``as soon as Pakistan can meet the obligations it has with respect to the policies of the international financial institutions, we are ready to support the disbursement by those institutions of the funds they are committed to make available to Pakistan''.

Mr. Pickering has linked the resumption of aid from international financial institutions such as the IMF and the World Bank to Pakistan meeting the conditions of these donor agencies on the economic front. It signals that other extraneous factors may not be introduced by the U.S. in this regard.

On the return to democracy and the Supreme Court judgment laying down October 12, 2002 as the date for restoration of elected rule, Mr. Pickering stated, ``We believe that obviously any statement of the Supreme Court of Pakistan needs to be respected, considered positively and honoured...''

``We understand that many Pakistanis in the military Government currently feel that more steps and institutional changes and so on need to be put in place... We have said we would welcome further details on the plans and proposals of the Government to meet the three-year commitment that the Supreme Court has now placed before it... If things could be done before the three-year deadline we would not be disappointed, provided they could be done well,'' Mr. Pickering was quoted as saying.

On non-proliferation, he stressed the need for an early signature on the CTBT. ``The notion that one country must test after another has, in my view, no relevance to the question of weapons developments which is the usual pretext for conducting tests.''

``It indicates to me, in effect, how difficult the problem of proliferation in the sub-continent has now become and is deeply discouraging that tests should be conducted by one country only on the basis of tests conducted by another. This smacks of the worst elements of an arms race in the region.''

According to him, any further nuclear test would be deeply deplored and produce no positive results for anybody in the region or beyond. ``This,'' Mr. Pickering said, ``was one of the reasons why we are redoubling efforts to get Pakistan and India to commit to the CTBT.''

DPA reports:

Gen. Musharraf today reaffirmed the country's reliance on nuclear deterrence as Pakistan celebrated the second anniversary of its nuclear tests carried out in 1998. ``Our experience tells us that no outside power would protect us against a belligerent India,'' he told a gathering of the scientific community in Islamabad.

However, the past two years showed that nuclear capability could not ensure economic and social emancipation of a nation, he said, referring to the adverse economic fallout of the tests. ``We have to attain all-round national development by achieving progress in science and technology,'' he stressed.

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