Spinning the plates

The Modi visit made clear that America decided to depart from the position of studied non-engagement over Kashmir

There is a popular stage trick where the performer sets plates spinning atop slim poles, the challenge being to keep an increasing number in the air and turning without any toppling over. In the emerging scenario Pakistan is a plate and America the spinner, and things are looking decidedly tricky spin-balance wise. The visit of Senator John McCain last Sunday 2^nd July will likely not have been made out of the blue but it was fortuitously timely. The wobbly Kashmir plate had looked like it was in for a topple courtesy of the recent visit of Indian PM Modi to Washington. Mr McCain was at pains to say that the US had not changed its position vis-à-vis Kashmir, that it still saw the problem as bilateral and for the respective parties to resolve. Be that as it may the Trump administration is working hard to cultivate Indian connections on any number of fronts, and it is difficult to circumvent Kashmir when it is the key point of friction underlying regional tensions.

The wobble was induced by a slew of new defence deals, calls for Pakistan ‘not to allow its soil to be used against other countries’ — a not so veiled reference to Afghanistan and the Haqqani group — and the declaration of Kashmiri leader Syed Salahuddin a global terrorist. The American lean-in to India is unlikely to ease anyway as Pakistan digs in ever deeper with the Chinese as economic and strategic partners.

The Modi visit gave the impression that America had decided to depart from the long-held position of studied non-engagement over Kashmir. Not so, said Senator McCain who is a frequent visitor to the subcontinent over many years, and has a rather more nuanced understanding of it than pertains at the top of the American administration currently. There can be ‘no peace’ in Afghanistan without the cooperation of Pakistan said he, and the American relationship with Pakistan was as important as it ever was. Pakistan remains relevant to America — at least for the time being, though not all American senators have the perspicuity of Mr McCain or his patience and forbearance. Keep spinning the plates — just do not add to the number to be kept in the air.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 4^th, 2017.

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