Disturbing info
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/South_Asia/FG28Df03.html
US paints Pakistan further in a corner
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - The recent peace talks between Indian and Pakistani leaders have helped push along the so-called "Track 2" diplomatic initiatives between the countries, but strategic quarters in Islamabad believe that the US approach to the Kashmir dispute, which Islamabad views as a purely regional issue between India and Pakistan, will prevent any significant breakthrough.
Security contacts in Islamabad tell Asia Times Online that Pakistan is highly concerned that the United States is favoring India too much, and that Washington is setting the Kashmir agenda to focus primarily on the new round of violence and human-rights violations there at the expense of measures to take the talks ahead.
The contacts point out that the United States' obsessive policies toward South Asia in the post-September 11, 2001, environment fail to recognize the fact
that Pakistan still has a strong bargaining chip in its support - and willingness to use - militant groups in the Kashmiri struggle.
Washington appears to be blinded by President General Pervez Musharraf going along with certain anti-terror measures, such as banning some militant groups, but these were done under duress, and
the reality is that Pakistan's real policymakers - an oligarchy of retired and present military officers - fully embrace the use of Islamic extremism to realize strategic goals.
For Washington not to treat Pakistan as an equal partner with India, then, is to risk a serious backlash that would scuttle the emerging peace process.
Yet Washington is doing exactly this. Although the administration of US President George W Bush has bestowed "major" non-NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) ally status on Pakistan, ostensibly as a reward for its support in the "war on terrorism", the US has still offered to sell an advanced defense-shield system to India. This goes against the spirit of Pakistan being a non-NATO ally, which also involves Pakistan allowing the US to use its bases. Pakistan has also been denied a deal on F-16 aircraft. Washington has, however, written off millions of dollars in Pakistani debt.
Also, on the United States' insistence, Pakistan has not raised the question of India building a huge fence along the Line of Control (LoC) that separates Pakistani- and Indian-administered Kashmir, which is tantamount to Islamabad accepting the LoC as the permanent border, something it bitterly disputes. Most of the confidence-building measures Pakistan has adopted with India have been under US pressure.
In return, in Islamabad's view, the Indian side has not made any concessions. As a result of secret talks between the two countries, several options have been mooted for resolving the Kashmir issue, with the national leadership obliged to "float trial balloons" to gauge public opinion. For example, Musharraf has openly discussed the "Chanab trusteeship formula" at various forums and with the press and political leaders.
However, there has been no such move from the Indian side to inform the public on new developments. Indeed, the major component of the opposition parties, the former ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, has revived agitation to scrap Article 370 from the Indian constitution, which suggests a special status for the Muslim-majority Kashmir state. This has completely set the Indian leadership on the defensive and they appear incapable of taking a single new step on Kashmir.
These developments had given rise to a deep-rooted feeling in Pakistan's ruling oligarchy that any talks between India and Pakistan will be devoid of substance, and that an escalation in cross-border militancy is the only way to force the Indian (US) side into making a genuine effort on Kashmir.