US back to old tricks with Pakistan; Biden's envoy visits PoK, uses provocative reference

The US ambassador in Islamabad visited Pakistan Occupied Kashmir and called it 'Azad Jammu & Kashmir' on Monday, October 3. Sharing pictures from his visit, Donald Blome gave a glimpse of the various places of historical importance that he went to in the Indian region forcefully occupied by Pakistan, including the so-called Quaid-e-Azam Memorial Dak Bungalow. 

“The Quaid-e-Azam Memorial Dak Bungalow symbolizes the cultural and historical richness of Pakistan and was famously visited by Jinnah in 1944, " said Blome in a tweet, adding “Damaged during the 2005 earthquake, the local government has beautifully restored this heritage site for the benefit of the community and visiting travellers.”

Ambassador boasts of US helping Pakistan 

Blome in the subsequent tweets highlighted how the U.S. has helped to restore 32 historic and cultural sites around Pakistan, totalling more than $7.1 million. The ambassador in Islamabad added, "These projects show the respect & admiration the U.S. has for Pakistan, its culture, and its people.”

India questions the US on the decision of military sale worth USD 450 million

Pertinently, in a big show of bonhomie, last month, the US had approved a foreign military sale of the F-16 case for sustainment and related equipment for an estimated cost of USD 450 million, arguing that this will sustain Islamabad's capability to meet current and future counterterrorism threats.

While addressing a press conference in Washington, External Affairs Minister SJaishankar said that the reasons were not 'fooling anybody'. Criticising Washington for its decision, he said the relationship between US and Islamabad will not serve the interests of America. "It's a relationship that has neither ended up serving Pakistan well nor serving the American interests."

"It's really for the United States today to reflect on the merits of this relationship and what they get by it. For someone to say I am doing this because it is all counter-terrorism content and so when you are talking of an aircraft like a capability of an F-16 where everybody knows, you know where they are deployed and their use," Jaishankar had said.

The 'thaw' in the US relationship with Pakistan is coming at a time when Imran Khan, the ousted former Pak PM, has accused the US of having been in cahoots with Shehbaz Sharif and members of the Pak opposition against him, while the US has chosen to gloss over having stopped military aid to Pakistan in 2018, with then President Donald Trump rightly calling out Pakistan for its decades of lies.