Spring Break
India takes offense to strong U.S. ties with Pakistan
Liz Sly — Knight Ridder Newspapers
Issue date: 4/7/04 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
NEW DELHI - When Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived here last month, it seemed there were no limits to the blossoming new relationship between the United States and India.
Hailing the "strategic partnership" recently formed between the two countries, Powell declared that the United States and India are "enjoying perhaps the best relationship that has existed between our two great democracies in many, many years - if not in history."
But then, barely 48 hours later, Powell flew to Islamabad and announced that the United States planned to designate India's arch-rival Pakistan a "major non-NATO ally."
The news hit New Delhi with the force of a bombshell.
In diplomatic parlance, a major non-NATO ally is clearly superior to a strategic partner, Indian officials said.
The new status will put Pakistan on a par with long-standing U.S. allies such as Israel and Japan, making it eligible for certain military equipment and supplies and perhaps tilting the power balance on the subcontinent in Pakistan's favor.
Compounding the insult, the officials say, Powell didn't inform India of his intention to upgrade America's relationship with India's bitterest foe.
If India is a "strategic partner" of the United States, they said, it would have been courteous to let India know about the Pakistan move.
Although the State Department scrambled to repair the damage, seeking to reassure India that the new status accorded to Pakistan is largely symbolic and won't result in significant transfers of new weaponry, the bitterness seems to be escalating.
"The U.S. of course has the prerogative to confer whatever status it desires on any nation," India's ambassador to the United States., Lalit Mansingh, said in Washington last week. "But the way in which it was done - the substance and the style - of how it was done is what has caused deep disappointment in India."
It is not the first time American diplomacy has found itself entangled in the long-standing enmity between India and Pakistan. India, which prides itself on being the world's largest democracy, has long resented America's close relationship with the military generals who rule Pakistan. But at a time when India and Pakistan finally are starting to talk peace, the slight has potentially profound implications, India fears.
Hailing the "strategic partnership" recently formed between the two countries, Powell declared that the United States and India are "enjoying perhaps the best relationship that has existed between our two great democracies in many, many years - if not in history."
But then, barely 48 hours later, Powell flew to Islamabad and announced that the United States planned to designate India's arch-rival Pakistan a "major non-NATO ally."
The news hit New Delhi with the force of a bombshell.
In diplomatic parlance, a major non-NATO ally is clearly superior to a strategic partner, Indian officials said.
The new status will put Pakistan on a par with long-standing U.S. allies such as Israel and Japan, making it eligible for certain military equipment and supplies and perhaps tilting the power balance on the subcontinent in Pakistan's favor.
Compounding the insult, the officials say, Powell didn't inform India of his intention to upgrade America's relationship with India's bitterest foe.
If India is a "strategic partner" of the United States, they said, it would have been courteous to let India know about the Pakistan move.
Although the State Department scrambled to repair the damage, seeking to reassure India that the new status accorded to Pakistan is largely symbolic and won't result in significant transfers of new weaponry, the bitterness seems to be escalating.
"The U.S. of course has the prerogative to confer whatever status it desires on any nation," India's ambassador to the United States., Lalit Mansingh, said in Washington last week. "But the way in which it was done - the substance and the style - of how it was done is what has caused deep disappointment in India."
It is not the first time American diplomacy has found itself entangled in the long-standing enmity between India and Pakistan. India, which prides itself on being the world's largest democracy, has long resented America's close relationship with the military generals who rule Pakistan. But at a time when India and Pakistan finally are starting to talk peace, the slight has potentially profound implications, India fears.
