Does the US Really Hold Pakistan and India as Equally Important?

According to a Reuters report, India and the U.S. are preparing to sign a nuclear trade agreement during President Obama’s upcoming visit to India. Meanwhile, the White House has stated that U.S. relations with either one of the countries, Pakistan and India, do not affect its relations with the other; both countries are of equal importance to the United States.

That the U.S. holds both Pakistan and India as equally important are simply idle words. In practice, the U.S. has always favored India. So much so that in the 1971 war between Pakistan and India, while America made a show of standing with Pakistan and announced the dispatch of a naval fleet to help, the fleet never reached Pakistan. This, too, was indirect help for India.

Regarding nuclear nonproliferation, Pakistan and India hold the same position; neither is prepared to sign the Comprehensive Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). But in this matter, also, the U.S. allows concessions to India. On principle, India cannot enter into civil nuclear power agreements with any country until it complies with international nuclear laws. However, India has entered into such agreements not only with the U.S., but also with France, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Russia, which are also providing civil nuclear technology to India. Australia’s provision of nuclear fuel to India is also a violation of international nuclear laws.

In the case of Pakistan, however, the U.S. is not only unwilling to provide nuclear technology itself, it is also opposing such cooperation and help to Pakistan by other countries. It appears that the U.S. has acknowledged India as a member of the nuclear club in an underhand manner. Such measures on the part of the U.S. constitute injustice toward Pakistan.

The U.S. calls Pakistan its frontline ally but, in practice, this is not so. Whenever a U.S. president has visited India, he has also come to Pakistan at the same time. Now Obama is ignoring Pakistan, while paying a visit to its neighboring country. This too is an example of discriminatory treatment by the U.S. against Pakistan. How, then, can it be said that both Pakistan and India have equal importance for the U.S.?

It is through deeds and actions that the U.S. should prove both countries are equally important. This involves entering into the same nuclear agreements with Pakistan that it is carrying out with India. If the agreements are necessary for India, then why are they not necessary for Pakistan?