It seems like we are in no mood to play gracious hosts. Not only did we restrict movement of US diplomats stationed in our humble abode but we also refused to entertain the requests of Senator McCain who came all the way from the US to plead on their behalf. This is our ‘move’ in the long-standing diplomatic game (read tussle) between the two countries. They have been in a maelstrom of misgivings and moves like this do no favours to the worsening situation.
For all the foreign office’s protests that this move is not US-specific and it is intended for their own security (a convenient card to pull out), it is fooling no one. These travel restrictions are Pakistan’s way of rebuffing the US. The escalating tensions between the intelligence machineries of the two countries (particularly ISI and CIA) are at the heart of the current bad patch. Since our foreign policy is scarcely a preserve of the civilians, how could one expect it to be favourable to the US in such a scenario?
The laundry list of grievances that we have aside, the drafters of our foreign policy would do well to realise that this is neither the right (for what its worth, its in contravention of the VCDR 1961) nor the expedient thing to do. We need to face the truth and accept that relations between a country like us and a superpower are inherently imbalanced. Our bargaining chips in this game are few and mostly useless. They can hit us where it hurts and we should incur the wrath of a spurned superpower – one that pays our bills too – at our own peril. Their tit-for-tat restrictions would effectively neuter our diplomatic mission abroad and we can ill-afford this right now when we are increasingly isolated in the international comity.
Many would trot out the ‘sovereignty’ card and say that we are in our right to impose such restrictions. The argument, unfortunately, would fall on receptive ears given the pervasive anti-Americanism and the public paranoia about espionage in the wake of the Raymond Davis incident. But we need to appeal to reason rather than emotion. Granted, there should be some restrictions, reciprocal ones, that states can reasonably slap on. But these current ones serve no purpose: they can’t check any alleged diplomatic espionage (better ways to deal with it); they are not leading to a rebate in violence, as one FATA official surmised, and they won’t pressure the US into giving us any favours. We already have countless problems to deal with; we shouldn’t add incensed superpower to the list.
