Nuclear South Asia: An Explanation to America

For many of us here, the month of May 1998 was one of a South Asian
awakening. India started off by exploding nuclear devices on May 11th
and followed up on May 13th and Pakistan responded in kind on May 28th
and 30th. Whether they were fission or fusion devices is beyond the
scope of this article and not under discussion here, but let us now
assume that they were not exactly for the maintenance of the late
Mahatma Gandhi's peace initiative for South Asia. Americans in
general may not be aware of the many contributors to this new nuclear
nightmare in South Asia. We will go into just two key elements from
the Pakistani perspective here. First it has to do with a law passed
by the US Congress known as the Pressler Amendment (1985) named after
the former Senator from the Dakotas. This law cuts off a significant
amount of aid, especially military to any country that the President
of the United States thinks is developing nuclear weapons. The second
is the main problem of disputed Jammu and Kashmir, or Kashmir for
short.

Let us start with the Pressler Amendment. It appears that all
that was missing from the Pressler Amendment was that the country
sanctioned should also have a green and white flag with a crescent and a star (the Pakistani colors), because to this day and from 1990 onwards, this
amendment has been applied only to Pakistan. Military hardware
especially 28 F-16 aircraft that Pakistan paid for ($600 million plus)
were literally impounded under this law and are still sitting in
storage somewhere in Arizona. In the mean time, India got off easily
and greatly improved its conventional weaponry and its "peaceful"
nuclear program with Soviet (or Russian) help. Pakistan has by now
lost the conventional weapons race in South Asia due to the Pressler
Amendment. So much so that it today has to depend on the nuclear option for its
security (ironically what Pressler was supposed to prevent). India, of
course, was making snow cones out of heavy water during this time.

How we treat our friends is a reflection of our character. Pakistan, since
its birth had been allied to the United States in its fight against
Communism. Since the Communists are no longer the bad guys in the
Western World, Pakistan was discarded like a "used lemon" (words
borrowed from a leading Pakistani writer). Pakistan towed the US line
and fought to make the world safe for democracy. In the ultimate
scheme of things, it now appears that the Afghans, the Pakistanis and
the Soviets lost the war in Afghanistan, while Indian and the United
States both won without even being on the same side.

After the Soviet withdrawal in 1989, Pakistan was rewarded with the Pressler Amendment, automatic weapons in the hands of extremists (i.e. "The Kalashnikov Culture") and a booming Heroin business which today boasts of over two million
local addicts. This is possibly the worst example of closure of
operations that the US has demonstrated, perhaps since our evacuation
from Vietnam. This how we treat our friends?

And now to the main problem. Kashmir has been waiting for the conscience and awareness of the world to awaken for almost 50 years now. In 1989, the Kashmiris
themselves lost patience and finally started reacting to their
overlords from New Delhi. They have genuine concerns that need to be
addressed. Just continuing to say that the US recognizes that Jammu
and Kashmir is disputed territory and that this issue should be
settled in a bilateral fashion has been an excuse to do nothing. The
world can no longer afford to ignore Kashmir. Since 1989 over twenty thousand
Kashmiris are dead, thousands of their people are in Indian jails,
their women have been raped by Indian troops and the Kashmiri Hindu
minority has been forced to flee to refugee camps in parts of
India. And now they are at the center of a possible nuclear
conflict. The US and the rest of the world needs to help in the
resolution of this issue because if we don't address it now we will
all hear about it later.

India has started a grave new chapter in the region's history by openly going nuclear. Pakistan unfortunately has fallen into New Delhi's trap by now becoming a partner in this madness. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (not even related remotely to Egyptian actor Omar) and Pakistanis were "damned if they did and
damned if they didn't". The damage has been done. But the question is
now what? India's new China card is not relevant to this
situation. The immediate problem is between India and
Pakistan. Unfortunately the enforced sanctions will only worsen the
situation. Both countries have seen a rise in the power of fascist
forces that would benefit immensely if the local economy, especially in
Pakistan, failed.

In conclusion, this writer would like to mention that
he did not dance on the streets of Sacramento, California after the
Pakistani tests. Neither did he buy any sweets to distribute which is
a traditional way that people in South Asia celebrate. But he may do
both if the issue of Kashmir is finally resolved and the nuclear
standoff diffused. The alternative is the unthinkable. The idea of
radioactive poisons in the ecosystem, flowing down the Indus and
Ganges (the holy Ganga) and the destruction of the cultural crucible
shared by Indians and Pakistanis alike has me more scared now then I
have ever been in my life.