The season of mistrust between the Pakistani and American governments has been prevalent for a while and may persist through the fall in America and the monsoon rains in Pakistan. Stubbornness does not respect the seasons. The simmering mistrust betrays the rhetoric of cooperation on both sides.
Two days ago, I had the good fortune of hearing the White House’s Mr John Brennan speak at the Harvard Law School. Mr Brennan, among other things, reiterated America’s resolve to take prompt and necessary action to keep Americans safe, especially when other countries are unwilling or unable to act against terror outfits posing an imminent threat to the security of America. I do not disagree with Mr Brennan’s remarks or the Obama administration’s general policy on countering terror. However, I do think that the American officials often leave unfinished a potentially promising sentence. There is no doubt that Pakistan’s tribal areas are home to terror outfits that threaten not just our country but the entire region and the world. It is also true that our military’s link and practices regarding these outfits create a lot of skepticism about the Pakistani establishment’s sincerity. All of those are valid concerns. But what tends to get lost in this narrative, and the punch line of the unfinished but promising sentence, is the story and plight of the everyday Pakistani.
Tens of thousands of Pakistanis have died in suicide bomb attacks. And each time they are forgotten in the narrative, it does not help the US in winning hearts and minds. Of course, America’s security is important. But that does not mean that the sacrifices made by Pakistanis should be ignored or forgotten. Each time America simply asks Pakistan’s government to ‘do more’ without mentioning the civilian deaths, it is failing to communicate effectively.
I value America’s security interests just like most Pakistanis who realise that this is not just America’s war but ours too. America can win more hearts and minds by actually acknowledging more openly and simply more numerously the sacrifices made by Pakistani civilians. There is no secret to it — just say it more often that Pakistanis are suffering. Whether it is an individual or an entire nation, an acknowledgment of the other’s efforts brings respect. It also needs to be said that America’s generous contributions in aid have often been under-represented when it comes to the coverage they deserve. Instead of waiting for right-wing Congressmen to raise the issue of blocking aid to Pakistan, the American government needs to be more vocal about the improvements that America is contributing to in Pakistan — and these cover areas from education to the energy sector. When more Americans know about the difference that aid money is making in the lives of school children and villagers, they will be better placed to question the rhetoric that calls for blocking all civilian aid.
As far as Pakistan itself is concerned, we too need to acknowledge the failure of our diplomatic efforts over the past decade in making clear the plight of our civilians to the rest of the world. The Pakistani government must make more aggressive and rigorous efforts to tell the world how the ordinary Pakistani citizen has suffered in the past 10 years. Our media, instead of spewing hatred against America, needs to set its moral and strategic compass straight. We don’t need to go looking for enemies and conspiracy theories to make clear our plight. An ordinary day in Pakistan is hard — it is uncertain, it is violent and it is taxing on our emotions.
At the same time we must be honest when sharing this narrative. There are problems and they are severe. There are structural imbalances and there are elements that threaten our security and that of America but acknowledging a problem is the necessary first step in solving it.
Unlike most Pakistanis, I support the drone attacks and I think they are a necessary evil. The reasons for my stance have been stated many times: there is less likelihood of collateral damage than air-strikes or artillery shelling and from a legal point of view there is the Pakistani government’s implicit consent. There is a genuinely strong case to be made for the drone attacks, especially considering the high-value targets that they have eliminated. But sadly, both the American and the Pakistani government choose to not engage with this issue. This effectively leaves the field open for baseless propaganda that blames drones for rising extremism as well as overwhelming civilian casualties. America needs to make a clear and candid case for these and the Pakistani government needs to engage with its people on this issue too. Why allow a policy to be hijacked by criticism that hardly has any basis?
Both sides need to remind themselves that good partners often need to be good listeners — there is little charm in talking at, rather than to, each other. Acknowledging each other’s sincerity and sacrifices is always a better bet to break deadlocks. Some important things have been left unsaid. Let’s just try to state the obvious. It may be tough but it is necessary.
The writer is a Barrister and an Advocate of the High Courts. He has a special interest in Antitrust law and is currently pursuing an LLM at a law school in Cambridge, Massachusetts.