Senior fellow for India, Pakistan and South Asia at Council on Foreign Relations, US, Dr Daniel Markey, was a distinguished guest lecturer at the DSS department on May 14th, where he discussed India as a Factor in US Pakistan Relations. He said that there is a growing realization in Indian and Pakistani governments that they should engage in dialogue on all issues to improve mutual relations for which US intends to extend helping hand. Dr Markey said that it is a difficult time for the bilateral relations between Pakistan and US. He said that American commentators were saying in the aftermath of Raymond Davis that if relations with Pakistan soared, the result will be US tilt towards India. Naturally Pakistan would then want even closer ties with Beijing.
When put the question to Chinese by Dr Markey during his Beijing visit, he said that the response tended to be that Beijing did not consider that policy seriously. He said that Chinese said that US-Pakistan split does not serve their purposes and about who will fill the vacuum, they did not want a gap in Islamabad s ties with Washington. He said that Indo-Pak relations are on a better footing now than in the past. He said Washington tried to have better working relations with Islamabad and New Delhi whereas China tilted towards Pakistan while India was closer with Soviet Union.
He said that Musharraf era had seen high potential for improving relations between the two South Asian neighbours. Normal and back channel talks took place and both Vajpayee and Manmohan governments believed that parleys were in their own interest. India recognized that it would overcome regional barriers to reach to global power. There was also recognition to solve Kashmir also as well as the realization that both nuclear powers can bring unacceptable damage to each other in a war. On Pakistani side, the driving impulse was rising Indian power and that the tide of history was not moving in Pakistan s favour. Pakistan realized that unlike India, its own economy was not rising. Hence, Pakistan recognized that negotiation on all issues not only on Kashmir only was a better option. Dr. Markey further said that US increased involvement in the region and its desire to have better relations with both persuaded it to try to help the South Asian countries in trying to improve their relations.