Obama failed Pakistan test?
If first impressions are anything to go by, Mr Barack Obama appears to have failed the “Pakistan test” by omitting any reference to that country in his remarks commemorating the 26/11 attacks on Mumbai.
Predictably, the Opposition BJP and the CPI have reacted with alacrity, calling the glaring omission as a “disappointment” and an example of the US’ “double standards” in the fight against terrorism.
“It (speech) was a complete disappointment as the world and the United States had proof that the attack was planned on Pakistani soil by its intelligence agencies. He had words which were not backed with action and intent,” BJP spokesperson Rajiv Pratap Rudy told reporters. Mr Rudy said by skirting a direct reference to Pakistan, Mr Obama “missed” an opportunity to strike a chord with Indians.
CPI national secretary D. Raja said, “It is not at all surprising. The US pursues double standards. When it is attacked, it takes one position. When any other country is attacked it takes another stand. Our government should take note of this”.
Mr Obama may have had good reasons for choosing, or not choosing, the words in his speech, but an influential section of Indian public opinion was quick to point out that it invited an unfavourable comparison with British Premier David Cameron, who, while visiting India in July, told Pakistan “clearly and plainly” that it needs to crack down on and eliminate terrorist groups.
“We cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able to promote the export of terror, whether to India or Afghanistan or anywhere else in the world,” Mr Cameron had said.
The controversy over Mr Obama’s omission of all references to Pakistan comes in the wake of a BBC Urdu service report that hundreds of students are being trained in militant camps in Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) to wage jihad against India. A 25-year-old engineering student from Lahore, fresh from a training stint in one of the camps, told BBC from PoK that many other students from his university have joined the militant training programme.
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