Pakistani Sensitivities
Since David Cameron made his comments about Pakistan in India last week, there has been a lot of criticism for the Prime Minister, from both the Pakistani government and people of Pakistani origin in the UK.
Having read extensively on the country, I feel very much that David Cameron was right.
This was then published in The Times in a letter from Shaun Gregory at the University of Bradford.
David Cameron has now seen the UK and US intelligence available on Pakistani army and ISI links to the different Afghan Taleban groups and to Punjabi terrorist organisations such as Lashkar-e-Taiba. He has also been able to reflect on eight years of Labour’s softly-softly approach to Pakistan since 9/11, which has led precisely nowhere in terms of the resurgence of the Afghan Taleban from bases in Pakistan. The Prime Minister is right therefore to seek to increase the pressure on Pakistan in this critical year for Isaf and to reassure India that Britain stands beside the world’s largest democracy in the face of terrorism exported from Pakistan.
Surely though with the flood problems in his country at the moment, the place for the President of Pakistan is at home supporting the unfortunate citizens of his country. Obviously, he is following Dubya’s thinking, when he refused to go to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
It was reported in the Sunday Times at the weekend, that Pakistan has received billions of dollars of US aid. Perhaps some of it should have been used for disaster planning? According to Newsweek, it has not been spent well. Here’s a paragraph from the hardhitting article.
But how effective will this round of money be? Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad have alleged that Pakistan misspent some 70 percent of the U.S. funds that paid the Pakistani military to run missions in the unwieldy provinces along the Afghan border. U.S. officials accuse Pakistan of running a double game with the money, keeping the Taliban at bay just enough to persuade American benefactors to keep their wallets open, thereby ensuring a lifeline for the country’s mangled economy. All of which raises the question: will any amount of money produce results?
I doubt it! So we must kep the pressure on the corrupt and dangerous regime that is Pakistan, but continue to support the people with humanitarian aid and the rebuilding of the flood-damaged areas. But all funds should be funnelled through agencies and people we can trust, both to do the job and not to divert it for other purposes.
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The Anonymous Widower 
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