The recent NATO airstrikes on Pakistan have raised many question. Is it possible to have a friendship between the strongest and the weakest, the mightiest and the puniest. Perhaps not. It takes equals to strike a deal. Whether they make love or war, the affair has got to be between like-sized giants. After killing 24 Pakistani soldiers, America is not even prepared to issue a formal apology. Why should they? What options do Pakistan have other than bearing the loss. All they can do is to pray the worse doesn't happen. The American position in the world politics is unarguably that of the decider. They are the dispensers of justice and their word matters. Presume some other country found guilty of gunning down people as mercilessly as this. The statements of condemnation for the aggressors would have poured in torrents. But here it can't be so.
When  a CIA contractor  Raymond Davis sparked a controversy after shooting down two people in broad daylight, just one Obama statement silenced all in Pakistan. Though the matter was `settled' subsequently after blood money was paid to the bereaved, but who knows was it really paid or a face-saving was offered to the next of kins. No apologies were sought and no apologies tendered. Davis had to be in Pakistan like a guest even after murdering two nationals. Unlike Pakistanis handed over to America, no American citizen can be handed over to Pakistan. Those who fired at these soldiers at Sahiwal won't be tried in any court of law for the simple fact that they are a law unto themselves.
Islamabad's honeymoon with Washington can't be based on the reciprocity of interest. It's always a unilateral relationship where one party only knows to suck out its benefit no matter what the cost for the other. If Zia is held responsible for militarizing Pakistan, Musharraf pushed his country to the predicament they are in at present. Too much of American involvement in Pakistan affairs is showing its effects now. As they put it that Pakistan is all about three As. Allah, Army and America.  The debate about the first two falls a little away from the present discourse, but the third `A' has come to crush the sovereignty of a country. The first two As are watching the third `A' imperiling the existence of a people. Who knows what is in store?

Lastupdate on : Sat, 3 Dec 2011 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sat, 3 Dec 2011 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Sun, 4 Dec 2011 00:00:00 IST