larry Pressler, US Senator for 18 years who is responsible for the Pressler Amendment of 1985, was in the city for the launch of his new book Neighbours in Arms: An American Senator’s Quest for Disarmament in a Nuclear Subcontinent. By Team Viva
US Senator larry Pressler has decided to finally pen a book on what he is best known for — the Pressler Amendment of 1985. The Neighbours in Arms: An American Senator’s Quest for Disarmament in a Nuclear Subcontinent, was written for a reason. He says, “I penned this book, as I am an old man, 75 years now and I wanted to make one last herald – to alert people to the problems of nuclear proliferation (the spread of nuclear weapons) and that Pakistan is a threat to the US’s security.”
The Pressler Amendment was significant as aid and military sales to Pakistan were blocked. It was signed by then US President George Herbert Walker Bush. It briefly halted the spread of nuclear weapons in the 90s. The man is also famous for resisting a bribe in an FBI sting operation in the late 1970s.
The book uncovers the journey of the Senator’s public life and the US foreign policy landscape. It digs deep into what exactly happened when the Pressler Amendment was active, its subsequent demise and the impact on the US’ aid assistance to Pakistan. There are a series of characters in it – Presidents, Prime Ministers, Senators and generals in the US, India and Pakistan. It unveils the powerful military-industrial complex for which the author has coined the term Octopus. It also talks about how it has a hold on crucial aspects of the American presence in India.
The book elaborates upon the formation of the US foreign policy in the subcontinent starting from 1974 till the present time. It ends with an advise on a new US–India alliance.
Talking about the book, Pressler said, “I wrote it to alert people about the need to keep working to try to get a regime in Pakistan that is more accountable when the nuclear weapons are concerned. I am told that there are as many as 407 centres for nuclear weapons, that is like having 407 countries with nuclear weapons. That’s a very serious problem, we have to keep working on this.”
Pressler is of the belief that there is a clear shift in the White House’s Pakistan policy under Donald Trump and that the chances of the non-NATO ally being declared a sponsor of terror can not be dismissed. He said if Pakistan will not act on terrorism, the Trump administration might declare it ‘a terror state’.
He is hopeful that the new administration in Washington is working with the Narendra Modi administration towards it. “There is no silver bullet solution, this is the toughest foreign policy problem in the world. We have to continue working in this direction,” added Pressler.
He also made an important point, “The focus of Indo-US bilateral partnership should be on agriculture, technology and healthcare.”
India and the US signed the nuclear cooperation agreement in October 2008. He said that the Indo-US Nuclear Agreement is more of an Arms Deal. “I would love to see the peaceful use of nuclear energy, but I am worried that so far it (the nuclear agreement) has mostly been an arms deal. Much of the new agreement seems to be a large arms sale to Indians,” said Pressler.