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Thursday March 28, 2024

Ignore China at our peril

A small incident on the lawn of the Prime Minister's House in the Pakistani capital on Sept 24 rever

By Ahmed Quraishi
October 07, 2008
A small incident on the lawn of the Prime Minister's House in the Pakistani capital on Sept 24 reverberated as far away as Beijing. In the last days of Ramazan, Mr Gilani invited the foreign media for a dinner. Probably by coincidence and not design, British and American journalists were given the better seats on the prime minister's table. Chinese journalists were left out. A little distance away, at the Chinese embassy, China's ambassador was hosting a dinner and handing out DVD players as gifts for the Pakistani Para-Olympic team and the lone Pakistani player who won a medal in Beijing. At least someone feted our heroes.

A week later, a senior Chinese journalist in the capital was heard complaining. His concern was not that he and his Chinese colleagues were ignored by Pakistani officials during a formal dinner. That's a small matter. He linked it to the overall perception that, after Feb 18, something has changed in the relationship with Beijing and that the new elected leadership is not big on China, Pakistan's traditionally close ally.

"Is everything over after Musharraf?" says the senior Chinese journalist, with some bitterness. It does sound dramatic. And it may not be true considering the strong military-to-military Sino-Pakistani relations, reinforced by General Kayani's just-concluded visit to Beijing. But this is an impression from someone whose voice is heard by many Pakistan-watchers in the Chinese capital.

Obviously this is not about seating arrangements at official banquets. This is about a whole new foreign policy that is apparently being thrust on Pakistanis without discussion. While it is the prerogative of a new elected government to introduce its own vision for international relations, it is our right to debate it and even reject it, if a majority wants so. This debate is being stifled.

Whether America's war on terror is ours or not – and no amount of paid advertisements will make it ours – there is no question that Pakistanis don't want their country to become Washington's third war after Iraq and Afghanistan. But the Bush administration is feverishly pushing in that direction before the end of its term in order to force the hand of a future government in Washington.

What part of American successes in Iraq and Afghanistan is the current Pakistani government so impressed with that it has no problem in turning Pakistan into CENTCOM's third area of operations? The US military, which is so keen on training Pakistanis, has been a failure in counterinsurgency warfare in two war zones. It has turned Iraq into a permanently weak and divided nation. In Afghanistan, it is supporting criminals, warlords and drug smugglers. The Afghan opposition, including the Afghan Taliban, is being pushed to the wall.

This is why it is stunning that President Zardari's government is doing very little to stop Pakistan from becoming America's next war zone. There should not be a problem in deciding this one: this for sure is not our war. Why is it difficult for our president to tell the Americans they need to pacify the Afghan opposition and resistance groups and end the reign of Karzai's 'war-lord regime' in Kabul in order to bring peace to that country?

It is also time for Islamabad to come out of the closet. The Afghan Taliban, with whom we ended diplomatic relations seven years ago, is a legitimate Afghan player along with the other resistance and opposition groups. We have no quarrel with them and there is no way that peace can be achieved in Afghanistan without bringing them on board. This is necessary to stabilize our own areas and end America's excuses to invade Pakistan.

With America's steep financial crisis, it is strange how our government is slavishly pinning hopes on a rescue package for Pakistan and in the process is keeping mum on major acts of hostility from our so-called allies. Pakistanis used to be chided by the Americans after 9/11 for fostering 'anti-Americanism'. Now our so-called friends are spreading 'anti-Pakistanism' around the world, misrepresenting the Pakistanis and reintroducing us as 'Iraq II'. But not a single voice of defence from Pakistan. History is inviting President Zardari to take a stand and carve a name for himself. He should start by doing and saying the right things in his upcoming unnecessarily delayed 'first official trip' to China.



The writer works for Geo TV. Email: aq@ahmedquraishi.com