The request of both Pakistan and India for membership of strategically important Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG) is going to be taken up this week, and timing with this occasion, India’s clever Foreign Minister has very shrewdly stated that India has no objection to Pakistan too getting the coveted membership on merit. The ‘catch’ here lies on the phrase ‘On Merit’.
Who will decide what merit means? And how? If the judgment of ‘merit’ is to come from Washington it has already come.
America has already endorsed India’s request. And Pakistan’s request enjoys no such endorsement.
Those who are currently (and formally) running Pakistan’s foreign policy will be seen as ‘novices’ if they fail to realize that this ‘soft’ statement of India’s foreign minister is intended to disarm China. It is China’s opposition alone to India’s membership bid, which stands in the way of New Dehli. And China’s opposition is based on the Visible likelihood of Pakistan’s request getting rejected by the NSG because of India-US back-channel opposition to it.
China will drop its opposition to the Indian bid only if a deal is struck to grant both countries the coveted membership at the same time.
