US must apologise

The least the US needed to do after killing 24 Pakistani soldiers in an unprovoked attack was to apologise. It has expressed regrets and offered condolences but refuses to say the right word. In fact, when soon after the incident the top US military official, Joint Chiefs of Staff General Martin Dempsey, was asked by an interviewer if there was anything to apologise for, he responded with an emphatic "absolutely not." It is tempting to imagine how he would have reacted had the shoe been on the other foot, and those killed been Americans rather than Pakistanis. All hell would have broken loose and everyone from President Obama, to generals, Congressmen, senators, and State Department officials would be shaking their fists at Pakistan despite a hundred apologies tendered by both Islamabad and Rawalpindi. In any case, common decency demands that all civilised people make an apology for something as small as stepping on another's toes and having inadvertently caused harm to another. What is involved here are 24 precious human lives. According to a New York Times report, State Department officials had lobbied, albeit unsuccessfully, for President Obama to make a formal statement of regret to the Pakistani people so as to lessen some of the hurt and salvage a relationship the US badly needs at this point in time. Admittedly, diplomats are much more sophisticated and in touch with reality than their Stateside compatriots, and hence sensitive to outside opinion. Inside the Beltway, it is all arrogance of power. Pentagon reportedly balked at the idea, saying statements of regret from senior officials were sufficient. Others opposed to a presidential apology, hold that it would play out badly for Obama in the run-up to next year's election. The fear is that his Republican opponents might use it against him. In other words, the American power elite believes regardless of what has happened, it is beneath a superpower's stature to ask for forgiveness from a small country like Pakistan - partner in a war or not. And no matter how seriously it lectures the rest of world on equality and human rights, the US thinks it is more equal than others. Pakistan's own policies seem to have given the US the impression that the lives of its people, perhaps, are not as important as those of Americans. It is good to see the government now having taken a proper stand. Aside from preparing to take a review of Pak-US relations, the government is said to have sent a letter to Washington demanding not only an apology but also punishment for those responsible for November 26 attack on two Pakistani border posts. It must remain firm on those demands. Copyright Business Recorder, 2011