The threat of isolation, Amina Hassan
Pakistan’s government and media have
created an artificial bubble for several years that does not allow Pakistanis
to realise our low international standing. Few countries have a favorable
opinion of Pakistan and even in China only 30 Percent of people have a positive
view of Pakistan, according to global opinion surveys conducted by the Pew
Foundation. Our passport is ranked as the second worst passport for
international travel as it requires a visa for more countries than even a
Somali passport.
Commenting on the issue, Husain
Haqqani, Former Ambassador of Pakistan to the United States told DNA that we
are isolated and are perceived as a terrorist incubator but we prefer to live
in denial.
Our default response to international
criticism is to blame India or Afghanistan for our problems and abuse those who
point out our shortcomings and difficulties.
“We are an aid dependent nation that
acts as if others do themselves a favor by giving us aid,” said Haqqani adding
that we also fail to realise that we lack international support on the Kashmir
issue.
Everyone applauded when our PM spoke
of Kashmir at the UN General Assembly last year but almost no one pointed out
that no other country said a word about Kashmir in the same UN General Assembly
session.
Haqqani believes that it is patently
absurd to believe that sending 20 special envoys will change how countries
around the world look at Kashmir or Pakistan. The exercise will generate
headlines at home, nothing else.
He rightly pointed out in a candid
conversation with DNA that
Pakistan needs to have a realist foreign policy, based on expectations
commensurate to our size and economic capacity.
“We must recognise that the advantages
we had of being the west’s allies during the cold war, when India was
non-aligned, are over.”
Haqqani shared at that time, western
nations, especially the United States, helped us advance our arguments at the
UN and elsewhere in return for our assistance in anti-communist intelligence
gathering or even the anti-Soviet jihad in Afghanistan.
We now need to be realistic in how
much, and in what ways, we can compete with India. We need to fend for our
security but we should not make opposing India the end all and be all of our
existence. We need to prioritise better, have fewer feuds with other nations,
end terrorism and our association with it and build our economy and society to
make ourselves attractive as friends and allies.
It is not hard to do but it requires
realism and analysis that goes beyond patting ourselves on our back and
adopting ideological rhetoric as a substitute for policy.
Agreeing with Haqqani, senior PPP
leader and Former Pakistan ambassador to the US Sherry Rehman feared there
was a strategic storm brewing in this context and there was no focal person
senior enough to give it ministerial attention.
“The government has not
been taking developments in America seriously. It has disregarded how
Washington works, especially after its phased withdrawal from Afghanistan.
There is after many decades no lobbyist for Congressional engagement in
Washington and no concerted effort to explain Pakistan’s security limits
or needs” – Sherry Rehman
“The government has not been taking
developments in America seriously. It has disregarded how Washington works,
especially after its phased withdrawal from Afghanistan. There is after many
decades no lobbyist for Congressional engagement in Washington and
no concerted effort to explain Pakistan’s security limits or needs,” she
said. Currently, India employs four different lobbyists for its strategic aims
in Washington.
Senator Rehman also thinks that
blaming India for the loss of the F-16s’ payment was not enough, “but they too employ
four different lobbyists and use their influential community at all points.”
Foreign Policy, Foreign Minister
Haqqani was of the opinion that
Pakistan’s power structure, with the dominance of the military and its
worldview, leaves little room for civilians’ significantly altering foreign
policy.
In most countries, elected leaders can
make fundamental changes, like Nixon reaching out to China, but in Pakistan’s
case the national interest is pre-defined and civilian leaders cannot afford to
make fundamental changes in defining what really the best for the country is
‘Handling’ foreign policy within that constraint limits civilian leaders’
ability and their ‘performance’ is similarly constrained. A full time foreign
minister would be useful but our international problems will not go away with
appointment of a foreign minister.
The PM’s real job should not be
conduct of foreign policy but to make major decisions about the country’s
direction. The more portfolios he keeps to himself, the less time he has for
big thinking, he said.
Senator Sherry Rehman also said
that right now Pakistan does not even have a foreign minister, which is an
egregious deficit especially at such difficult times,” she added.
US – Pakistan relations
While shedding light on US-Pakistan
relations Haqqani shared that relations with the United States changed after
9/11 and especially after May 2011 with the Abbottabad raid.
“Pakistan now lacks the goodwill
within US administration and policy circles that it had during and immediately
after the Cold War. Our inability and unwillingness to change our policies
despite repeated American requests and demands has led to a situation that
leads Americans to trust India more than they trust Pakistan,” he said.
The US always sought India as an ally.
It offers a bigger market and is seen by Americans as a relatively more open
society. The Indian-American diaspora is better assimilated in the United
States than Pakistani-Americans. Pakistan’s policies relating to terrorism, in
particular, and our inability or unwillingness to help the U.S. in Afghanistan
have only ensured that America’s embrace is closer not only with India but also
with Afghanistan.
Senator Rehman also feels
that Washington was a tough town at all times but the tension over the
F-16s was a symbol of worsening ties which will not mend themselves without
serious and coordinated effort at a sustained institutional level.
However, Haqqani said that we
seem to be putting all our eggs in China’s basket, not realising that we had to
reach out to china in the 1960s mainly because our dependence on the U.S. did
not fulfill our expectations.
“I am afraid we will lose the U.S.
only to realise a few years later that China, too, has interests that do not
coincide with ours,” he feared.
Senator Rehman said the public
narrative about Pakistan in America after Bin Laden was found there was never
great, “but we did keep ties at an even and constructive keel despite onerous
security challenges.”
Senator Rehman maintained, “Today I am
afraid the government has its own parochial agendas which miss the greater
scheme of things. The rising graph of insecurity in Afghanistan will also be
laid at Islamabad’s door which may be entirely unfair given the political
disunity next door, but I am afraid no one is awake at the foreign policy wheel
in Islamabad right now to even be vigilant to protect us from the blame game.”
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