Win the game and your complete registration fees are covered for FRiva Las Vegas.
Posted on 06/25/2002 7:36:39 PM PDT by BlackIce
THE joke in Indian diplomatic circles has been that General Musharraf is capable of eating his words for breakfast, lunch and dinner without developing indigestion. This remarkable capacity seems to have become known to the West also, after he claimed with a straight face that he had never given a pledge to US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage on June 6 to close down PoK terrorist camps. So, who is lying? If it is not him then it is Mr Armitage and Secretary of State Colin Powell, who publicly revealed the pledge on June 10. The spectacular U-turn that he has made is one of a piece with his yes-no switchover on Afghanistan and on madarsas (days after it was announced that he was making madarsa registration compulsory, his Information Minister Nisar Memon visited the madarsa of Sami-ul-Haq, considered the godfather of the Taliban, and showered lavish praise on it). India was always cynical about his pledge, but even it could not have guessed that he would go back on his words so soon. In a way, it is good that the cat is out of the bag so quickly. The pressure that the Western world was mounting on India to de-escalate will ease. The USA too will need to take a fresh look at its policies, considering that the Pakistani President has put a question mark on its credibility. Can Washington now take General Musharraf at his words, and more important, can it ask Delhi to do so?
This breach of trust has been ostensibly committed to ward off pressure from several religious organisations and militant groups like the Hizb-ul-Mujhideen and the Jamaat-e-Islami. But that can hardly be cited as a justification for such a retrograde step. While there has been a vociferous campaign against the “sell-out” by the General, liberal elements in Pakistan have been gaining strength and criticising the old Kashmir policy equally vocally. These sane voices have been questioning the very wisdom of trying to bleed India in Kashmir through terrorism and in the process bringing Pakistan itself to the brink of disaster. Writing in The News, Nasim Zehra, a well-known commentator, went to the extent of asserting that on the Kashmir issue, Pakistan “can only be blamed for substituting diplomatic dialogue with gunpowder tactics”. The General just cannot hoodwink the world by raising the jehadi bogey. He is himself hawkish and impulsive by nature and routinely overrules the professional advice of his diplomats. Some Western nations have tried to convince India that the General’s latest comments are only to ward off criticism within Pakistan, and he will, in fact, deliver on his promises. The question is since he does not stand by even a public pledge, can he be depended on to fulfil a promise made in private? Just recall what Z. A. Bhutto promised behind closed doors during the Simla Agreement and what he did on returning home once he had got his PoWs!
Win the game and your complete registration fees are covered for FRiva Las Vegas.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.