In the Name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful

HIMALAYAN BLUNDER OF PRESIDENT BUSH

[Shamim A Siddiqi, New York]

Never in the history of the United States a president had violated the decency and decorum of its foreign policy so much as President Bush committed during his last week’s Indo-Pakistan visit. Both India and Pakistan are the nuclear power on merit of possessing nuclear arsenal and its allied technology that they perfected in 1998. Since then, in spite of sanctions from the USA, they went on multiplying their strength gradually with the result that they are standing today as rivals with extreme nuclear destructive power and the unresolved Kashmir issue as the sharpest bone of contention for about six decades with three wars at its back. If the dispute about Kashmir flares up any time, it would engulf the world into third great war of vast human annihilation, an unthinkable catastrophe lurking over the human specie.

President Bush after the tragedy of September 11, 2001 never feels tired of declaring Pakistan as its Strategic fore-runner partner in his fight against terrorism, the key point of his government’s home and foreign policy and the barometer on which he tests the extent of “royalty” of his friends and allies. In reality, only Pakistan is fighting Bush’s war against terrorism in all sincerity as President Musharraf very often had professed and President Bush had repeatedly confirmed . Over 80,000 Pakistan’s armed men are fighting this battle and its security forces at all fronts. It has so far lost 600 solders in the surrogate war of Mr. Bush but with what rewards? President Bush, had he been a “true” friend and a partner of Pakistan, he could have asked and applied full diplomatic “pressure” on Indian government to resolve the Kashmir issue with Pakistan as a pre-condition of offering nuclear facilities to India for its peaceful needs with so many added advantages in its wake. It would have the potentials to transform India into a benevolent economy for its teeming millions. India like China is equally desperate to get energy and its sources for their respective growing industrial and commercial needs. India would have no choice but to agree to this demand and President Bush would have definitely won over two hearts with one deal, the people of India and the people of Pakistan. But he lost this opportunity in his eagerness to contain China and make the “secular” India as it allies. How far this unnatural “haste” will succeed can be anybody’s guess, keeping in mind the centuries old Brahmanic “twist and turns” in Indian politics.

It shows that President Bush has no vision, no foresightedness and is not a polished diplomat. He has used his “power-dynamics” bluntly out of “arrogance” of Indian “internal” hegemonies, is certainly not the friend of Muslims and his slogan of war against terrorism is a “hoax” and only a means of coercion and intimidation for his adversaries who refuse to tow his line. He has, thus, lost a historic opportunity to create a good will in the Muslim world. A situation that could generate as an act of permanent peace in the region will now result more in dissention, fight and enimical abscission against the mega-superpower. He has lost the opportunity to use both India and Pakistan in building the “defense wall” against China. The vagaries of Indian politics through opposition by the communist party, intensification of Saffron culture and Muslim’s antagonism will play its dominant role towards opposite direction. By decreeing that “the US is keeping India and Pakistan at two different levels” [NY Times dated March 5, 2006], he has weekend his case against China. This “two-nations-two-policies” will harden the attitude of Pakistan people to new heights and the political-cum-religious parties will agitate against the USA in every strategic zone whereas American armed men and women will continue to pay the price for this “folly” by giving up their valuable lives every day for the cause that their C-in-C has thrown away in pieces out of his haste and “immaturity” in diplomatic arena.

The matter does not end here. In the language of President Bush. there are many “rogue” nations in the world like Iran, North Korea and Brazil who are seriously aspiring to develop nuclear power for peaceful purposes. The open favorable concession given to India by President Bush will agitate their inner instinct to make “undisguised” efforts in that direction and the USA or any power would have no moral stand to oppose their “natural” urge. President Bush, in fact, has opened the Pandora box of “claims” and hidden aspirations of many “rouge” countries and the Security Council or any war of intimidation will not be able to deter them. Only Mr. Bush will be blamed by historians and our progenies for creating the inevitable ”unstable” condition in the world. This is the climax of his “crusade” against Muslims to whom he is out to teach “democracy” and freedom. None will believe him and his tall talks any more. Even his friends will try to keep aloof from him and they are already distancing from him gradually.

This magnanimous offer to India is yet to be approved by the Congress where a lot of murmuring against it is already echoing in its Rwanda. A momentum is building in Washington. The treaty of nonproliferation is in doubt. Both India and Pakistan have not signed it and perhaps will never. Japan and Germany who are most developed nations cannot be debarred by SC to disdain from it. So is the case with South Korea and Taiwan to have nuclear power as a deterrent against China. This open policy of the US to contain China may incline it to have deeper and closer ties of friendship with Russia that is not happy too with the USA whose criticism of human rights violation is accelerating both against China and Russia.

Under these circumstances the war of insurgency both in Iraq and Afghanistan is likely to last long. The US will be bogged down at both the places. Retreat from Iraq will become a distant dream. It will burden the US economy with more war sustaining expenses and thereby increasing national debt that is already paying 237 billion Dollar interest on debt servicing. In its wake, there will be more curtailment of provisions for the poor and needy of this country. The poor will suffer most and the rich will become richer by exporting their goods and services to Indian markets. The only beneficiary from the nuclear facility to India will be the US corporate world that would benefit from expanded market economy. That is the only prevailing interest that President Bush had in mind when he planned to provide the nuclear facilities for peaceful purposes to India, separating it from military projects, a strategy that would never be verifiable by anyone.

Though President Bush has offered this nuclear facility to India but only time will tell that what final shape it would take at the end, if all goes through well and it crosses all the hurdles that are lying ahead of it. But it would be a different story. In the mean time the immaturity of President Bush stands authenticated beyond any shadow of doubt and what would be the political and economic ramification of his Himalayan blunder, only time will be its witness. Every thing is at stake at this stage and only God knows as to whether some good will come out of it or not.

Shamim Siddiqi

March 5, 2006