By Khalid Khokhar
While Pakistan is ranked world’s fifth most unstable country, in the report released by the US State Department’s Global Peace Index (GPI), on June 9, 2010, there are reasons of being an insecure country – ongoing security-related concerns contribute to its low rating at 145 on a list of 149 countries. In a psychological sense, insecurity is defined as a feeling of apprehensiveness and lack of assurance or stability. The fundamental threats emanating from India, cause feelings of insecurity that motivate the government to adhere to specific kinds of anxiety-reducing political attitudes and values. If Pakistan is provided with an alternative source of security, it would reduce their need to defend against insecurity, resulting in lower endorsement of the anxiety-reducing political attitudes. And that’s what America can do to diminish this deep-seated insecurity of Pakistan.The war on terror has entered into its 9th year. The government is trying utmost efforts to eradicate extremism and terrorism in the region. Pakistan’s military forces are reclaiming swathes of tribal territory from Taliban’s control. Now this requires redeployment of forces on the western flank bordering Afghanistan. Given the fast-track economic growth, New Delhi has not only acquired conventional military capabilities, but also laid her hands in expanding its nuclear infrastructure. This has shifted the balance of power heavily in India’s favour. India’s threats of carrying out surgical operation inside Pakistan if action is not taken against the perpetuators, clearly shows that India always wants to assert itself as a super power capable of conducting an unchecked forays into foreign domain. Islamabad also sees India’s strong presence in Afghanistan as a threat to its own security, fearing that New Delhi is trying to bring pressure on Pakistan from both its eastern and western borders.It is beyond doubt that the US has committed acts of aggression in Iraq and has bullied any sovereign nation working against their interest. Yet, it would be wrong to negate the humanitarian aspect behind US assistance in times of desperation. How can Pakistan forget massive US assistance at the time of the Earthquake-2005, or to tsunami-affected countries in 2004? The crux of the matter is that, the US has been always on the forefront than any other country. It is noteworthy that western democracies deal its Muslim population on the basis of equality and human rights that aimed to eliminate discrimination and inequality of religion and race. Despite of divergence in views on the both sides, Pakistan would feel far less secure if existing means of cooperation deteriorate. Both countries have to dig deeper to stabilize and improve mutual ties. Following are some of the factors that can help improve Pakistan’s relation with America:-The first factor to increase the security problem is that the US should refrain from threatening to unilaterally attack al-Qaeda targets inside Pakistan. The use of pilot less drones attacks were called a part of the US' "War on Terrorism" and sought to defeat the Taliban and al Qaeda militants who were thought to have found a safe haven in Pakistan. A study called 'The Year of the Drone" published in February 2010 by New America Foundation found that in a total of 114 drone strikes in Pakistan between 2004 and early 2010 approximately between 834 and 1,216 individuals had been killed. Pakistan has lodged formal protests over the use of UAVs and warned that these are likely to affect the on-going military operation in Waziristan. In order to increase the security issue of Pakistan, US must stop drone attacks on hapless civilians. The second factor to reduce the insecurity of Pakistan is that the US must actively expand economic and military assistance to Pakistan, including supporting the reconstruction opportunity zones for tribal areas of Pakistan. Rapidly expand trading opportunities, including fast tracking a bilateral trade agreement between the U.S. and Pakistan. There is an expeditious need to increase the Coalition Support Funding to $2 billion a month to support the important role of Pakistan in fighting terrorism. It is important to note that the United States had 150,000 combat troops in Iraq, and was spending more than $12.5 billion a month to support them.The third aspect that can improve the insecurity is that Pakistan be offered a civilian nuclear agreement akin to the US-India civilian nuclear deal initiated in 2005. Although China has agreed to build two new civilian nuclear reactors, it is US assistance that will help Pakistan maintain conventional parity with its arch rival, India. Besides, Pakistan’s energy needs are so pressing that less costly and time-consuming means to generate electricity deserve to be given priority. The fourth factor that can be instrumental in making Pakistan a secure country is that US should develop trust-based “strategic partnership” with Pakistan. After Pakistan's successful counter-insurgency operations in Swat, South Waziristan and throughout the country, the top US leadership and NATO military commanders in Afghanistan have started developing trust-specific “strategic partnership” with Pakistan. Nevertheless, the layers of mistrust exposes on the slightest provocation on each side. The recurrent bouts of mistrust beguile the newly proposed strategic relationships because of America’s capricious tendency to link Pakistan with anything bad anywhere in the world. The story of Faisal Shahzad is a case in point. Although no easy solutions are available to the Pak-American problems but both the countries should put an end to ‘blame game’ and work earnestly to build durable mutual trust.The fifth component that could increase Pakistan’s sense of security is a sensible resolution of the Kashmir dispute. Back channel talks between Islamabad and New Delhi can go close to reaching common elements for an equitable outcome. India is working on an agenda of portraying the Kashmiri freedom fighters as “terrorist” being supported by Pakistan. Kashmiris have started thinking that they cannot convince India through peaceful means and there seems to be an ultimate growing support for armed struggle in IOK.The sixth factor of achieving the security issue is to endorse security guarantee against India. The "Report on Progress toward Security and Stability in Afghanistan" said over 130,000 Pakistani troops were participating in the ongoing campaign against the Taliban in Pakistan's tribal region. As Pakistan is facing threat of conventional war from the eastern borders, therefore, it cannot scale down the strength of the troops deployed on the eastern borders alongside India. At one point Indian troops deployed along Pakistani border reached 4 hundred thousand. This level of Armor and Mechanized Forces near Pakistani border made Pakistan ‘alert’. The US should provide security guarantee, if they want whole-hearted efforts from Pak ArmyThe seventh factor in the way of improving security situation of Pakistan to clean up religious seminaries from extremism. The westerners believe that Pakistan's madrassas are feeder academies for terrorists. The centerpiece of our counterterrorism policies is to flush out these dangerous militant groups and to sever their links with the madrassas. At present over 1.5 million students are enrolled with 12,997 Madrassas in the country. Nevertheless, stiff résistance posed by the hard-line administrators of 3683 seminaries, resulted in discontinuation of Madrassa Reforms Programme (MRP). Since the US is no more funding the project, the reform programme is now facing closure on June 30, 2010. Pakistan insists that the project must continue as madrassa students are getting real benefits out of it and are entering the field of formal education and computer technology.
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