Knight(s) of Zach’s round-table

Two biggest economies of the world came into my orbit during the last fortnight, one by making me a ‘knight of Harkenrider’s round-table’ and the other by inviting me on Yu Boren’s dining table (remember ‘knights of King Arthur’s round-table?).

I’m positive my readers know these dignitaries fully well. They are none other than Mr Zachary V Harkenrider and Mr Yu Boren – the influential consul-generals of United States and China respectively, stationed in Lahore (Zach and Boren are influential because of their cordial outreach to Pakistani society, and Zach’s wit adds further spice).

It is, however, unfortunate, that I missed the Chinese consul general’s dinner on the eve of their New Year because heavy traffic on Multan Road didn’t allow me to reach PC well in time on return from Sahiwal (coal-fired project) where I had gone to see – and believe – the hard work and devotion of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif and CM Shahbaz Sharif in taking the country out of dark ages (power outages).

This visit, apart from enlightening me about the development and developments, did generate some degree of soothing effect that neutralised my ‘missing the dinner’ syndrome to a great extent. But in the case of the media round-table, strange things have happened during the last few days in the realm of media ever since I attended the media round-table at the US consul general’s residence.

If one is expecting some big story, he will be disappointed. I simply said ‘in the realm of media’. Let me elaborate. We were five media seniors who attended the discussion which was really good from all angles especially from that of having deeper insight into the political currents and undercurrents of United States.

The topic was ‘Current political climate in the United States’ but, as is usual with such discussions, things don’t remain confined to pure politics only. Other things, relevant and irrelevant, also creep in on such occasions. As such, there was discussion on informal ways of the American system, about comparison between EU and US and about LeT, Afghanistan and regional and international radicalisation and terrorism.

As for the strange things that I’m talking about, these were observed in the form of different interpretations on the basis of which certain write-ups were published in the newspaper. One of my colleagues even went to the extent of publishing a piece according to which the US consul general said that the United States was negotiating with the Pakistan government on matters related to the LeT. One columnist gave his views in an Urdu newspaper and opined that attending a round-table doesn’t mean agreeing with all that is said and publicly declared in it.

I agree with this disagreement. In my own opinion, any forum or discussion provides a platform for thinking and analysing the things in depth. The fact is that the agreement or disagreement doesn’t matter much since the destination is putting an end to ignorance.

However, as regards Zach Harkenrider’s published statement, I was not upset over my belated write-up but over my failure to register such an important point i.e. the term ‘negotiation’ between Pakistan and US on the LeT issue. Ultimately, to my sheer good luck, it came as a big relief to my professional standing when the consul general himself clarified to me that he was misquoted and that he didn’t utter the word ‘negotiation’. Now I realise had I shown haste, I might have gone for a similar ‘slip of the pen’. I also drew solace from the fact that I had already reported most of the salient points of Zach’s on-the-record policy statement in my interview of his a few weeks back. They included US appreciation of Pakistani forces and people’s sacrifices in war on terror and Islamabad’s greater connectivity at all strategic levels with Washington including American coordination at operation level with GHQ. They also included details of billions of assistance flowing from US to Pakistan for different projects including livestock promotion and energy generation.

The best part of the round-table was that the entire talk was on the record. Pak-American civic leader, Shahid Ahmad Khan, provided quite an in-depth insight into American politics and social-cum-behavioural patterns especially the focus of Americans on treating everyone at par, irrespective of his religion or social/job status. Even the utterances made by Zach were on the record. This practice is worth emulation among diplomatic circles. Even in the past, when The News contacted US embassy in Islamabad for getting a version on an important story, the spokesperson, Rian Harris, responded in minutes giving the official American version on the record.

I’m positive if this healthy diplomacy is followed with the same generosity and honesty, it will go a long way in removing suspicions that tend to eclipse inter-state relations.  

mianrehman1@gmail.com