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Sanctions on India, Pakistan may be lifted simultaneously

Aziz Haniffa in Washington

US sanctions against Pakistan may be lifted simultaneously with the lifting of the measure against India because of some concerted lobbying by the pro-Pakistan lobbies.

Analysts said that if this happened, it would be clear that despite the Bush Administration's assertions to the contrary, US foreign policy's 'zero sum game' strategy is very much alive.

The administration understandably argued against any such perception.

A senior official said, "It is clear if sanctions are lifted against India for the nuclear tests conducted in May 1998, it will also be appropriate to lift nuclear sanctions on Pakistan. This does not mean the status of sanctions imposed on Pakistan as a result of the military takeover in October 1999 would change."

In an interview Christina Rocca had told that the concept of the 'zero sum game' towards South Asia had been totally eliminated from Washington's foreign policy lexicon.

"India and Pakistan are important to the United States, separately and for different reasons," she said.

Leading the charge, however, for the simultaneous lifting of sanctions is Senator Sam Brownback, ranking Republican on the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee and author of the Brownback Amendment, which gives the president permanent authority to waive the sanctions against New Delhi and Islamabad.

Pakistani American groups have invited Brownback and other influential senators to political parleys and had hosted fundraising receptions to convince them that lifting the sanctions against India alone would be deemed 'discriminatory' in Pakistan and would further alienate the US there.

At most of these events, the warm-up act has been by Pakistan's Ambassador Maleeha Lodhi.

"We have emphasised that once the sanctions review is completed, removal or waiver of sanction against Pakistan and India should be done concurrently," she said.

At the same time, she urged the Pakistani American community to strongly 'convey to administration as well as members of Congress that all nuclear-related sanctions against Pakistan must be removed or waived keeping in mind principles of fairness and non-discrimination'.

Pakistan is deftly playing another card by arguing that if the US is discriminatory in lifting sanctions, it would complicate the rapprochement Islamabad seeks with New Delhi.

There is no denying that Congress and the administration have been listening.

Brownback said sanctions against the two countries should be lifted simultaneously for distinct and separate reasons. "Otherwise, you are going to build mistrust," he added.

State Department spokesman Richard Boucher echoed these sentiments: "Pakistan is a friend of long standing. It is an important regional Islamic power. And we are committed to working through the difficult political, economic and social challenges with Pakistan."

A senior Pentagon official, Assistant Secretary of Defence for International Security Affairs Peter Rodman, went even further, taking a swipe at India in the process.

He said during a media roundtable at the Pentagon: "The relationship with India is different. But Pakistan has been an ally over many decades. We, as a great power, shouldn't be dispensing with allies when, you know, we think conditions have changed."

Senator Joe Biden, chairman, Foreign Relations Committee, left the door open for the lifting of sanctions against Pakistan as he urged the removal of sanctions against India.

In his letter to President George Bush, he said: "Economic sanctions on India serve to stigmatise rather than stabilise. If we show our goodwill by removing this irritant, India will respond with reciprocal acts of goodwill in non-proliferation and other areas. (Then) Congress will be more likely to look with favour on the repeal (rather than the mere waiver) of the 1998 sanctions "

At the same time, he inserted a caveat by informing Bush, "I would want to discuss with you the issue of missile proliferation from China to Pakistan, before recommending the lifting of sanctions."

Indo-Asian News Service

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