International affairs experts here said on Tuesday that Pakistan-US relations were based on the latter's interests and ultimately their fate would probably be no different than the past.
Speaking at a seminar on 'Pak-US relations: Repetition of past or departure', held under the aegis of the Institute of Policy Studies, a galaxy of analysts and former diplomats said they believed that US relations with Pakistan specifically revolve around formers global war against terrorism.
Noted analyst and former Secretary, foreign affairs, Mohammad Akram Zaki, said that the real basis of Islamabad-Washington ties was their co-operation in the anti-terror campaign. "The US policy towards India and Pakistan is not carved on equal footing," he added.
He pointed out that the aura of Pakistan's nuclear programme falling in the hands of extremist elements could not be overlooked, which clearly indicated that the West had not totally accepted the reality of its nuclear abilities.
The policy makers in the 1970s, he said, divided the world into two portions ie the Red menace and the Green menace (the USSR and Islamic world). And, after dealing with Soviet Union, the focus "is now being shifted" to Islamic Ummah.
Zaki said he saw in the publication of the profane cartoons a ploy to widen the divide between the Islamic world and Europe. "The US will never like enhanced co-operation between Ummah and Europe and will like Europe to hold its hands tightly under the umbrella of Nato," he argued. Referring to US interest in this part of the world, he said he was of the view that the 'epicentre of political earthquakes' would be somewhere in Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
About the US-led war on terrorism, Zaki said that the global war, or passing of as many as 21 conventions on the issue, would not serve, and asserted that with injustice and use of brute force, the epidemic would further spread, gaining more strength, instead.
General Talat Masood said that the US wanted to have good relations with India, Afghanistan and Pakistan, despite the fact these three countries did not have very pleasant ties.
Referring to the war on terrorism, he said that the US had paid attention to every aspect of Pakistan's need, and the military and financial aid was part of the same policy. "The US is interested in Pakistan's stability. The major aim of this is to make the country an attractive hub for American investors," he said.
He said he believed that the US did not want division of Kashmir. Therefore, proposals such as self-governance were surfacing with more force. Former Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Iftikhar Sarohi, recalled how he became the most sought after defence attaché in 1979 in London, when the invasion of USSR forces shook the world. About Pak-US relations, he said that weak and strong states could never be staunch allies. "Like in the past, this relationship will last till America's objectives in the region are achieved," he said.
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