New Delhi
6 November 2010
If first impressions are anything to go by, 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. Rudy said by skirting a direct reference to Pakistan, 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".
Obama may have had good reasons for choosing, or not choosing, the words in his
speech, but an influential section of Indian public opiinion 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," Cameron had said during a speech in Bengaluru.
The controversy over Obama's omission of all references to Pakistan comes in the wake
of a BBC Urdu service report that hundreds of students, including foreigners, 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 run by a tanzeem (group) located near Lahore, an apparent
reference to Jamaat-ud-Dawa, to wage jihad against India.
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