'Pak's poor eco due to rivalry with India'

Peshawar, Aug 30: Pakistan"s poor economic condition is due to its rivalry with India since 1947, and rule of successive military regimes in the country, a US foreign policy expert has said.

"The rivalry that dogged Pakistan after partition led to the misallocation of funds to the army on the pretext of keeping itself at par with India, militarily and caused political and economic disturbances," said Walter Russell Mead, a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.

Advocating against what he termed the militarisation of economic policies, Mead opined that Pakistan"s military bureaucracy needed to understand that its current approach was unsustainable.

India had access to the best weapons available in the world, for which it did not have to suffer much owning to the volume of its economy, while on the other hand, Pakistan had to use the fund for the purpose that were direly needed for its development, he said.

"Pakistan needs to get out of this vicious circle," The News quoted Mead, as saying.

He denied US role in strengthening military regimes in Pakistan, and said that he was surprised to see the apprehension deep rooted in the country.

"I do accept that the periods of US interaction with this country happened to coincide with military governments here, but perhaps, it is because of the prolonged and repeated military rules in Pakistan," he said.

Mead believed that in instances such as 9/11, the US Government had to negotiate with the incumbent government in Pakistan to seek its support for the war of terror.

"The Americans did not have any choice. The military government in Pakistan was the only option available to them," Mead observed.

Mead is a contributing editor for the Los Angeles Times on international affairs, and also writes for leading newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, International Herald Tribute, Washington Post and Financial Times.

He has authored a number of books including 'Special Providence", which won the Lionel Gelber Award in 2002 and 'Power, Terror, Peace and War".

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