With temperatures and tempers flaring on the sub-continent, the respective Indian and Pakistani lobby groups in the United States have not been far behind in adding their voices to the fracas.

Indian American lobby groups came up with the Washington Chalo (Let’s March on Washington) program, echoing the Delhi Chalo war cry of Subhas Chandra Bose during the Independence Movement. Though their intention was to descend on Washington on January 29th and meet with Congressmen and Administration officials, newspaper reports don’t show any activity vis-a-vis meeting Administration officials.

The clout of Pakistani Lobby groups might be declining along in direct proportion with their country’s declining image in Washington but that hasn’t stopped them from doing their own version of Washington Chalo.The Pakistani-American National Alliance (PANA), a group of 6 Pakistani-American organizations is all set to hold “day-long lobbying activities at the Capitol on February 18“. A  “fact-sheet” filled with innuendo and disinformation was also released on January 26th in Washington and it’s worth reading, if only for the ludicrousness of its assertions and recommendations.

The surprising thing about this “fact-sheet’ is that it is written by a scholar of the Middle East Institute, a well-known thinktank based in Washington which prides itself on being non-partisan. I daresay the Institute’s credibility is at stake if its scholars indulge in such activities, even if in their personal capacities.  Then again, it might well be that the Pakistanis have taken over funding this thinktank, going by the following news report: Musharraf gets job offer from Middle East Institute of US.

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