We in the United States often underestimate that gulf of mistrust and suspicion that separates India from Pakistan.
In the midst of the worst flooding in it’s history, with a fifth of this densely populated country under water and upwards of 14 million people affected, this editorial from Pakistan’s The Nation calls on the government to reject emergency aid offered by India. The reason? The editorial argues that the aid is merely a ‘ploy’ show the United States which of the two – India or Pakistan – is the more dominant player, and a way to shove the contentious issue of Kashmir to the side.
The editorial from The Nation says in part:
After monsoon flooding in Pakistan, India’s offer of $5 million in aid is more a ploy than anything else, so Islamabad should reject it out of hand. … By showing that India can handle the region’s problems, the offer also panders to international sentiment. Proposed during a phone call by India Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna to his Pakistan counterpart, Shah Mahmood Qureshi, the offer of aid was really meant to show that Pakistan’s creation was a mistake, since Krishna simultaneously offered his congratulations for Pakistan Day. Our foreign minister’s hesitant reply shows how desperate the government is to obtain U.S. approval by seeking Indian approval.
The U.S. should realize that India, being a poor country despite its pretensions, is simply too impoverished to act as regional bulwark without funding beyond America’s capacity to provide. India’s offer of a paltry sum seeks to drive home its insulting attitude toward Pakistan, and irrespective of the amount, the U.S. must realize that Pakistan will not abandon Kashmir for money.
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