The United States led NATO investigation into the military raid inside the Pakistani border with Afghanistan has come out with a conclusion that further strengthens Pakistani Government, Pakistani Military and Pakistani people’s opinion about America and NATO’s lack for respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty and now more so Pakistani soldiers’ lives. The American Government in Washington thought it best, probably taking from the Raymond Davis case, to offer monetary compensation to the families of the martyred and wounded Pakistani soldiers; 24 brave and loyal Pakistani men in uniform brutally killed by the US led NATO airstrike inside Pakistani border on the night between November 26 and 27, 2011.
USAID - A Pakistani Soldier's Life in Dollars
Would the Americans take the same deal if this situation was reversed? If the Pakistani forces ‘by-mistake’ killed 24 of American troops?! Probably not.
But thinking in retrospect such an incident was imminent with Pakistan’s deteriorating image as that of a ‘Sovereign’ state. The Prime Minister Gilani lead PPP Government did little than lip-servicing and attempting to gain political mileage by continuously ‘condemning’ the drone strikes in Pakistani territory. The United States and the NATO forces had already established a compromised image of Pakistani sovereignty due to the weak play by the country’s government. Has the PPP lead Pakistani Government shown a solid stance over drone attacks and American intrusion into Pakistan to capture Osama Bin Ladin, chances are that the November 26 deaths of the 24 Pakistani soldiers could have been averted.
The latest statement issued by the American State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner did acknowledge the blunder by the US led NATO forces but consistently fell short of a clear-cut, unconditional apology to Pakistan, the families of the martyred Pakistani soldiers and the Pakistani people; “We accept responsibility for mistakes committed by the US side in the Nato air strike incident”. Mark Toner went on to state that the US was ready to monetarily compensate families of the martyred Pakistani soldiers.
It seems that the Americans claiming to be Pakistan’s closest ally in their war on terror in Afghanistan haven’t quite yet understood the Pakistani people. The Pakistani people are being alienated to the Americans and their cause in Afghanistan with every single passing day. The Obama Administration has recently done more to damage rather than build Pak-American relations as evident from popular public sentiment widely covered in the local and international media. The question now is whether the Obama Administration will pay heed to this conspicuously visible dissatisfaction by the Pakistani people or will they continue with their isolated agenda that will dangerously polarize the regional situation both in regional and global perspectives.
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