Pakistan has asked the US to maintain a "balance" in its relationship with Islamabad and New Delhi,and show equal concern for the two nations. This was conveyed to US Secretary of Defense Robert Gates by Pakistan Army chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani during the former's visit to Islamabad last month,the Foreign Policy magazine has said. "If you care about India getting upset,care about us as well. You have to balance the concern for India with concern for our interests," Kayani said in a blunt message to Gates during their meeting in Islamabad,said the author of the news article,Imtiaz Gul. Head of the independent Centre for Research and Security Studies in Islamabad,Gul is the author of the Most Dangerous Place - Pakistan's Lawless Frontier,due out in May. A similar message,Gul wrote,was delivered by Kayani to the NATO leadership in Brussels recently. "I explained to NATO leaders in Brussels that understanding Pakistan's strategic framework would help them understand the situation in a much better way," Kayani said. Before his late January presentation in Brussels,Kayani had made a similar forceful case before Gates at the Army's headquarters in Rawalpindi. According to Gul,Kayani at a briefing at his office in Rawalpindi said Pakistan remains concerned about India's Pakistan-specific military capability. He said six of India's 13 strike corps are currently deployed along the border and India's involvement in Afghanistan is ongoing. Referring to the 'Cold Start doctrine' propounded by India and the outgoing Indian Army chief's purpurted remarks on the "limited war" under a "nuclear overhang," Kayani said this policy and rhetoric does alarm Pakistan's security apparatus. "You plan on an adversary's capability and not intentions," Kayani explained. "While the capability takes years to build,intentions may change overnight and Pakistan simply cannot depend on other's intentions,he reasoned," Gul reported.
