Ever since the controversial release of CIA contractor Raymond Davis and the American gratitude by way of killing some 40 innocent civilians in a merciless drone attack, the Pakistani Establishment has arrived at a puzzling crossroad; the only road before it seems to say goodbye to its co-operative alliance with the US in the war against militants in Pakistan's north-west.
Despite having taken some two hundred drone strikes, mostly resulting in disproportionately high collateral damage, the murderer CIA contractor was given a safe passage. Now that the Obama administration is still insistent upon keeping up the drones-driven war, Pakistan is left with no option except opting out of the co-operative mode.
What is going to be Pakistan's next move we would have to wait and see, though presently the ongoing military operation in some of the restless regions indicates that militancy would be dealt with an iron hand. But the options to explore more avenues for non-military strategies are also receiving added attention; in the United States too the Obama administration is being exhorted to revisit its drones-driven strategy and think of reviewing its "Pakistan policy". One such move has been reported recently.
"It is time to assess whether this (Obama) administration's strategy is working", Peter Charles Choaris, a visiting fellow at American Security Project, and Shamsher Asad, an international energy consultant wrote in an opinion piece in the New York Times while examining effectiveness of the two-year old policy. They have asked the Obama administration to conduct an independent review of the US policy towards Pakistan.
They think the administration would like to do so by trying to find out whether its "core policy to disrupt, dismantle and defeat al Qaeda and its safe havens in Pakistan are distorting American policy toward Pakistan". They also think that a "lower US policy and more modest agenda" would be more effective and sustainable.
They have questioned if the tactical benefits of drone strikes would help promote the United States' "long-term strategic goals". And last but not the least, the two experts have advised giving up 'Af-Pak' regional approach and advised "more tailored policies for each country". That the Obama administration should abandon seeing Pakistan through its Afghanistan prism is their message.
As amply reflected from General Kayani's stiff reaction to the drone attack on the day following the release of Raymond Davis and his assertion that Washington should revisit its Pakistan policy the "dissimilitude" in the US-Pakistan relations is too glaring to be overlooked. The fact is that America's mindless insistence in bombing the tribal areas where the maximum casualties are non-combatants is increasingly undermining the image of Pakistan's military.
It is beyond the comprehension of layman why should the Pakistan's armed forces be a partner in this genocidal action of the United States in Pakistan. Pakistan has suffered all along since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and continues to pay a heavy price for what is commonly dubbed as 'toeing the American line'.
The feeling of being short-changed by Washington gets all the more intense when we know that Pakistan's historical rival, India, is busy fishing in the troubled waters of Afghanistan; it has set up a number of listening posts and is prompting anti-Pakistan forces from its bases in Afghanistan. Enough is enough, that's what an average Pakistani would like to tell America.