Anand K Sahay

When we try to be friends with you, you kick us in the teeth.’ This was a senior Indian external affairs official telling the Americans some two decades ago. That was another time, of course. But it appears the ghost of the past has again come calling.While professing the warmest friendship for India in the recent period, the US has suddenly decided to raise the status of Pakistan to that of a “major non-Nato ally” (MNNA). It quickly followed this up with proposing to lift the sanctions imposed as a punitive measure on Pakistan in 1999 following General Pervez Musharraf’s military coup that toppled a duly elected government.

We know the twin steps are a prize being given to the generals for doing America’s bidding at the risk of alienating their own countrymen- for letting US planes fly sorties from Pakistani airbases and for sending the Pakistan army into the country’s wild northwest to hunt for the al-Qaeda.None of this can be a concern of India’s. But the trouble is the raised level of friendship comes with a tidy armaments package. Historically, the augmentation of Pakistan’s military wares has meant renewal of belligerence against India, and has caused an arms race. For New Delhi, this is the catch. The irony is the Indian policy-makers have not even squeaked after the most embarrassing fortnight on the diplomatic front in many years.

The reason is straight-forward. The pervasive mood of self-congratulation in this government stemmed in great part from the belief that it had been able to worm its way into Washington’s confidence. The reverie of the rulers was broken when Colin Powell announced in Islamabad that America was raising Pakistan’s status to that of a MNNA. New Delhi’s self-belief lay shattered with this thunderbolt. It found its voice only when the opposition began to raise questions about the precise nature of the country’s relations with the US. The piqued South Block response was that the US decision will have “significant implications” for India’s relationship with that country, though nothing has been heard about the matter since.

The Vajpayee regime was angry that Powell, who had looked in here just before flying to Islamabad, had not breathed a word about Washington’s intention to gift Pakistan shiny new clothes. The government was so staggered it couldn’t even say that it was confident about its own ties with America -with which it claimed to have developed a “strategic partnership.”

As it happens, it was left to Washington to recall the mumbo-jumbo about the “strategic partnership”. To add insult to injury, the US offered that India too could become an MNNA! Accepting MNNA status means a country openly agrees to become a US sentry-cum-bell-boy. Naturally, the offer was met with self-righteous indignation.

But New Delhi’s “ultra-nationalists” still have to answer if there exists a “strategic partnership” with the US. In the US-India context, the term is, of course, nonsensical. It implies the existence of no bilateral irritants and a near or total convergence on regional and international issues. Post-Cold war, even European powers would hesitate to describe their ties with America in such beguiling terms.Clearly, the Indian government was living in a dream world, and using glib words. When India became the first country to support the US “star wars” initiative, while the Europeans were being cautious, the regime here thought it had won America over. When it is now being kicked in the teeth, it has just decided to sedate itself, rather than make any awkward noises.Sahay, a political analyst, writes for THT from New Delhi