Back to back diplomatic faux pas

Head of PPP Media Cell

There is commonality of views among the majority of defense and political analysts that Pakistan’s foreign and security policies’ failures are heart-breaking, signifying the tale of hubris mired in alleged duplicity and secrecy. The indictment of the international community against Pakistan is complete with the Xiamen-Declaration of the 9th Bricks Summit, China, as it has put Pakistan on notice urging to deny space to terrorist outfits on its soil threatening peace and security in the region. Our surreal strategic and diplomatic pursuits are perceived by the world as bane of contention for the regional peace and security.

The friends, the sympathizers, the enemies and even the neutral countries have been shifting to the other side of the equation allegorical to our almost total diplomatic isolation. This must not be allowed to continue any further and tangible steps may be taken to reverse the diplomatic isolation of Pakistan. 

Our brave soldiers are ceaselessly engaged in defeating the scourge of terrorism, the curdling legacies of two dictators, General Zia-ul- Haq and General Pervez Musharraf; those pushed the nation in the Afghan inferno as a US proxy.

Their toxic obsession to perpetuate the illegitimate rule pushed the national interest in the periphery. The cost, so far, is staggering and the tether end of war is not in sight as yet.

The nation has suffered the losses of more than one hundred billion dollars so far and still counting. Dictators hands are stained with the blood of thousands of soldiers and more than sixty thousand civilians that cannot be forgotten or forgiven. Their crime against the nation is gruesome, and history of this country will treat them as the lowest of the low who paved the way for ‘Great Game’, leaving behind a perpetuate hell. 

Significantly, the major powers have handed out an olive branch to Pakistan to join them in defeating extremism and terrorism indiscriminately cobbled with sincerity of impeccable integrity.

Pakistan may seize the opportunity and be a sincere partner augmenting the global endeavors to defeat the evil. All other roads lead to the brink of abyss. Make no mistake as there is no room for this anymore. 

Now, the incumbent civil and military leadership may huddle together to put the house in order and move forward pro-actively with conviction as how to cut down the  strategic losses during the shortest span of time leading to the happy scenario of “friendship with all and animosity with none’ as per Quaid’s vision. Undoubtedly, there are no signs of fatigue swaying across the nation and the brave soldiers as their determination to annihilate the evil gets stronger with the passage of time. But, their unflinching resolve may not give the leadership an open-ended leeway to wait for the miracle to happen and doing nothing rightful to stem the diplomatic onslaughts coming from all directions. They may initiate strenuous efforts to get rid of this bloody war of attrition posing grave existential threat. This requires paradigm shift to formulate robust foreign and security policies under the auspices of the Parliament. The hijacking of the foreign and security policies by the domestic constituencies has embroiled the country in a mess of appalling proportion. The institutions’ relentless tendency to ingress in the legitimate domain of other institutions from behind had emerged a new  threat to the very edifice of democracy, according to Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani and Senator Farhat Ullha Babar, adding that all institutions should work within the ambit of the constitution. Non-adherence to this narrative is the root cause of all problems facing the nation in all walks of life. The lack of will to rectify this persistent tendency is mind blowing.        

Pakistan’s talk should walk by taking action against terrorists’ outfits indiscriminately and also against proscribed organizations on UN’s terrorist lists. They may not be allowed to carry on their activities in the full glare of media under pseudonym. This is overdue because Pakistan is signatory of the UN charter. There is no other way forward because the ambivalence is not going to work in the international diplomacy of today. It had not worked in the past and it may not work in the future either. The nation must not be kept hostage to the narrative of institutional fixations and preferences that may be replaced by the paradigm shift. The country can no more afford the aftermaths of back to back faux pas.  The Parliament may assert itself and take full charge of the security and foreign policy domains to keep the inevitability of doomsday scenario at bay. The opposition and treasury parties may lend full support to prove the mettle that Parliament is the ultimate custodian of national interests. Its looking the other side at this juncture may lose the legitimacy to represent the people of Pakistan.  

The United States has built up the entire charge sheet against Pakistan on the basis of  Haqqani network that has been  killing the US troops and also inflicting the military setbacks on the Allied Forces in Afghanistan. The prime minister of Pakistan has recently denied the presence of Haqqani Network on Pakistani soil implying it has shifted inside Afghanistan long ago where about 40% of territory of the country is under the control of Afghan Taliban. The international community is not convinced because our security and foreign policies unfortunately are perceived as running with Afghan Taliban and hunting with US troops. This perception of playing on both sides of the street has reduced our credibility to almost the needle point. This credibility gap may be bridged if Pakistan has to tread on the trajectory of winning back the friends at the international level. The Parliament may consider in figuring out a multilateral framework of verification of the non-existence of the Haqqani Network on Pakistani soil to the satisfaction of the world. It will spoil the whole case of US and India against Pakistan, and the international community instead will appreciate our successes and sacrifices with realization of unfair treatment meted out to Pakistan in this count. 

The establishment, like in other civilized countries as a SOP, may give its inputs in security and foreign policy domain but dictating the civilian government, as it is in the public domain, may not be justified. The disqualification of the former Prime Minister by the Apex Court has also sadly strengthened the perception who wanted to improve relations with neighboring countries. The currency of the perception undermines the country and the ability of the government to do business with the world. The establishment’s requisite adjustment will enhance its stature as a disciplined and professional entity. Indian Prime Minister’s sarcastic remarks to the effect that it was difficult to normalize relations with Pakistan because there were many power centers implying the establishment was the boulder in normalization of relations between two neighbors. Our establishment’s self-assumed role emboldened the Indian Prime Minister to pass such callous remarks on Pakistan. But, the open secret may be rectified instead of prolonged. 

The alleged presence of Haqqani Network on Pakistani soil has estranged the Superpower, USA, with whom Pakistan has long history of relations characterized by ups and downs. It will be naïve to spoil our relations for the wrong reasons because disengagement is the worst form of diplomacy. Pakistan has been consistently projecting its indiscriminate fight against terrorists, but, there are terribly a few countries that are supportive of our articulation. The Bricks declaration is the final straw to break the back of our credibility. The onus of dispelling this impression totally lies on Pakistan shoulders. Pakistan may boldly strive for figuring out the mechanism of verification as mentioned above of the non-existence of safe havens on its soil. The world may not be convinced without such a framework and Pakistan may not hesitate if the country has nothing to hide. Pakistan’s hesitation will leave no room for doubt of skeletons in the closet. As a responsible country, Pakistan may invite international observers and media teams and allow them to visit the places of their choice.          

Undoubtedly, Pakistan’s foreign and security policy is at precarious position today because list of our friendly countries have reduced to an embarrassing level. Ironically, the powers that be are continuing to be mired in a state of denial leaving little room for paradigm shift. Our East and West borders are insecure suggesting our security and foreign policies have pushed the country between the deep sea and the rock.  Our foreign policy has failed to create enabling diplomatic environment wherein its interests are protected reasonably well. Fault does not lie in our stars but in our policy planners who seemed to be bogged down in tunnel vision with zero-sum game fixations. The results of such single track policy are before us. The only exception is China that is also feeling the heat of narrative of good and bad terrorists’ policy. Our relations with other neighboring countries have been going from bad to worse. The level of trust between Iran and Pakistan is not akin to neighboring Muslim country. With Afghanistan we are at loggerheads and all efforts to improve relations have failed to bring about desired results.

China has although extended its full support to Pakistan during the visit of Pakistan’s Foreign Minister. It would, however, be naïve to assume that China will backtrack from the Bricks declaration to bail out Pakistan. Pakistan cannot afford to bear the burden of militant outfits on the UN’s terrorist list.   

muhammadshaheedi @yahoo.com