ReSetting South Asian Regional PoliticoEconomic Button.

Byline: Engr. Mansoor Malik

When President Obama and his erstwhile Foreign Secretary Hilary Clinton took over from the Neocons White House, they coined this word of "Resetting Button" with the Russian leadership way back in 2008/2009. It is another matter that Mr. Putin turned out to be too smart for them and started his own "Software Button" for political maneuvering deep inside the American Electorate which turned the tables on them through getting his choice of electing a new President of the USA instead of the suave, well prepared and most popular Ms. Hilary Clinton. South Asian Population of almost half a billion people towards the end of the 19th Century have been crying for "Resetting" its own Politico-Economic Button ever since the East India Company stealthily landed its ships on our Eastern shores. The 1857 War of Independence came and went and so did the 1947 Political Division of Hindustan and Pakistan.

Our Regional Masters changed hands from the British to American with the left-leaning Hindustan government initially experimenting with Moscow/Peking in the early 1950s while we were infatuated with the Western World led by the so-called Free World Champion, USA. The British Empire had overextended its influence to Kabul and beyond during the Russian Czars while creating Buffer Zone in Afghanistan which later on gave Americans a big leverage into South/ SouthWest/ Central Asian underbelly checkmating the Soviet Influence in our region. The present "Post Afghanistan American withdrawal" has given fresh impetus for the Regional States for pressing the Re-set Button to achieve "Peace and Stability" in our midst. The ORBAT (Order of Battle) which is now emerging is creating a wedge between the Eastern Flank of the Persian Gulf Littoral States and its Western Flank. With Israel extending its reach now to the GCC countries fully backed by America further challenging the influence of Iran and Pakistan in the Strait of Hormuz/Gwadar and beyond.

Greater Israel has always been the American Dream in the heart of the Middle East. The strategists in Moscow and Beijing long ago realized this continuously evolving situation along the shores of the Persian Gulf extending into its hardcore Central Asian Countries. The timely creation of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) almost twenty years back speaks volumes of the foresight and hindsight of both the Chinese and Russian Leadership. At present SCO consists of all the ECO (Economic...