THEIR GOVERMENT IN THE PROVINCES

inments in the provinces of NWFP and Baluchistan will not permit US military forces to conducts military operations on the Pak-Afghan border. Pakistanis must ‘self determine’ the nation’s domestic policies. Pakistan today is controlled by Islamic fundamentalists. No more evidence was required as by the Pakistani officials attendance at the funeral of Kansi, who was involved in CIA killings and who was executed in USA and his body brought to Quetta. Pakistani officialdom was represented at this funeral by the entire civil hierarchy of Baluchistan, the local Pakistan Army Corps Commander and the Pakistani Ambassador in USA, Ashraf Jahangir Qazi..

Pakistan’s major foreign policy predicament would now be as to how to keep United States engaged with Pakistan, so as to ensure that the Kashmir issue is kept alive with American support, and American ire is kept at bay. The scenario above does not permit a proximate Pak-USA engaged relationship. Denouncement is inevitable as Pakistan finds it increasingly impossible to curb growth of Islamic fundamentalism.

It should not be viewed as inconceivable that the United States demands Pakistan’s accountability over its nuclear proliferation, sequentially, after it completes its mission in Iraq. Panel discussions on Pakistan TV have aired fears that after Iraq, Pakistan may be the next target of the United States for the same reasons-WMD, export of terrorism and nuclear proliferation. Pakistan’s China Card- How Long?: Whenever Pakistan is hemmed in strategically, it turns to China for military and political support. China has always obliged Pakistan on this account. Once again in panel discussions on Pakistan TV, demands are being made that as response to contemporary developments; Pakistan should sharpen and over play its China card in its foreign policy contexts with both the United States and Russia.

The question that arises in this context is as to how long Pakistan can play the China card and for how long China can oblige? Pakistan does provide some strategic pressure points to China against the United States. More prominently the Karakoram Highway linked to the Chinese assisted naval base coming at Gwadar, in close proximity to the Straits of Hormuz. However, one tight rap from the United States can deter both Pakistan and China from any strategic mischief in this regard.

China has no “natural allies” as this author has maintained in many of his writings, and Pakistan at best for China, is an unnatural and inconsequential ally. Pakistan cannot contribute to China’s strategic strength, it can only detract from China’s strategic strength, if China continues to rely on it. China has alternative options in Iran and Pakistan is dispensable at some stage. Despite the protestations of both of “eternal friendship”. Pakistan ensuring the longevity of the Pak-China strategic relationship. Pakistan’s analysts have begun recording the change in nuances in China’s foreign policies.

Pakistan and Saudi Arabia: Saudi Arabia has been a consistent supporter in providing finances not only for Pakistan’s Islamic Jehadi apparatus and export of terrorism but also under writing Pakistan’s nuclear weapon and missile arsenal.