US Shouldn't Use Waiver Mode to Bail Out Pakistan

Nobody is going to believe Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on National Security and Foreign Affairs, when he alleges that India was using Afghan soil to attack Pakistan. The allegation is merely a ploy to blackmail Obama administration into releasing aid to Islamabad amid demands within the US for a re-evaluation of Washington’s munificent policy towards a country that continues to foster terrorists. In view of the recently expressed concerns by Pentagon over Pakistan being a safe haven for terrorists in India and Afghanistan, the US must realise that ground situation in Pakistan has not changed even after Peshawar school carnage. Pakistan is increasingly a victim of the backlash from ISI’s years of patronising terror but the ISI has not changed its behaviour. It remains a patron of LeT and the Quetta Shura.

India should not only rebut such wild charges, but expose Pakistan. Pentagon’s statement came days after the State Department said that in the last few years, it has not been able to provide the necessary Congressional mandated certification to Pakistan that it has been taking action against terrorist outfits like LeT and the Haqqani network. Both in 2013 and 2014, the reviews carried by the State Department found that Pakistan does not meet the criteria mandated by the Congress. In the absence of such a certification, the Secretary of State must issue the national interest waiver for the Obama Administration to release funds to Pakistan.

New Delhi should press the US not to use the waiver mode to bail out Pakistan until it genuinely meets the commitment to fight global terror by dismantling terror camps within its territory. In fact, India should press for more international sanctions against Pakistan. It should launch a diplomatic offensive to expose how Pakistan had shown no commitment in the war against terror. Instead of ceasing support, or dismantling “bases of operations” of terror groups including the LeT and al-Qaeda, it is funding them through back channels.