Glaring omission in presidential address
For the past week, the parliament has been the focus of attention with two joint sittings of both the houses for historic as well as symbolic reasons. The joint session convened last week marked the fifth consecutive address by any elected head of the state in Pakistan, signaling strengthening of democratic dispensation in the country. Equally important was the joint session this week as the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) tabled foreign policy recommendations for debate. Significantly, this is for the first time that the parliament is taking the lead on foreign policy formulation which has been, until fairly recently, the exclusive preserve of the security establishment.
President Zardari’s address was long on rhetoric and high on hollow claims. As he gloried mostly in past laurels, no vision or roadmap was offered for the future. He raced through the written text, blowing the PPP-led coalition government’s trumpet as if the nation was as out of touch with reality as the president ought to be, living in that cloistered Aiwan-e-Sadr. Perhaps the main objective was more to go through the motion of making history than to make much sense.
Much has been said and written on the contents of president’s address, particularly on the domestic aspect so no point burdening readers with more on this. However, the foreign policy segment of the presidential address was largely missing from the animated national debate and discussion that followed it. From the international perspective, the timing of the address was particularly important in the backdrop of three key developments: the endgame in Afghanistan and the Afghan reconciliation process; the mounting pressure from the US and international community on Iran regarding its nuclear programme; and the process of a reset in Pakistan-US relations. Hence the diplomatic community had its eye and ears tuned in.
In the bilateral context, the president specifically referred to Afghanistan, the Afghan-led peace process and the transit trade agreement. He talked about trade with India and perhaps to blunt the likely domestic criticism in the same breath underlined the need to resolve the difficult issue of Jammu and Kashmir.
On Pakistan-US relations, the president acknowledged that 2011 had been a challenging year and made it clear that Islamabad would continue to engage with Washington despite irritants. Characterising Pakistan’s relations with the US as multi-dimensional and important, he left it at: “We seek to engage meaningfully with the US on the basis of mutual interests and mutual respect.” Conspicuously, he overlooked the most controversial issue of US drone strikes and took no position on it.
Notably, the president talked about Pakistan attaching great importance to Russia, hinting intense engagement between the two countries in the coming months. This has also been advocated by the PCNS in its recent recommendations. In a positive development Russia has shown interest in investing in the IP project and a high-level Russian delegation with officials of Russian gas giant Gazprom is expected to visit Islamabad. Russians are also keen on investing in Thar coal. More importantly, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Pakistan this September in what will be the first-ever trip to Pakistan by any Russian head of state.
It was obvious from the President’s address that Pakistan’s diplomatic radar will be more receptive to East Asia, Africa and Latin America, regions that offer tremendous opportunities for bilateral cooperation but have been ignored in the past.
Iran came out as the most glaring, and a rather intriguing, omission in the presidential address at the joint session. Non-mention of Iran was a conspicuous departure from his previous year’s address and came as a surprise particularly after the warm embrace with Iran at the trilateral summit in Islamabad last month. At a post trilateral summit press conference with his Iranian and Afghan counterparts only in February, President Zardari had emphatically declared that Pakistan will pursue the Iran-Pakistan (IP) gas pipeline project come what may. He had gone on to declare that Tehran will find Islamabad on its side in the event US attacked Iran. His declaration and gesture of solidarity was widely welcomed at home and in Iran. And coming from no less than a head of state and supreme commander of the armed forces it was not a message that US could have ignored. PM Gilani and Foreign Minister Khar were equally categorical in their stand on the IP issue amid strong voices of opposition from Washington. Dismissing US threats and rejecting any foreign pressure on the IP project their message was loud and clear: that the project is in Pakistan’s national interest and it won’t be dropped. However, this firm resolve of the top leadership did not reflect at all in the presidential address. A somewhat lame explanation given by a senior Pakistani diplomat when his attention was drawn to this omission was that Iran is part of the Islamic world which the President mentioned in his address. But then so is Afghanistan and it was specifically mentioned.
The multi-billion dollar IP project is vital for energy-starved Pakistan which is currently in the midst of unprecedented energy and power crisis. So then why did Iran and the most important energy project for Pakistan not figure in the president’s address? Is there a re-think or a sign of Pakistan getting cold feet? Was it a deliberate omission in view of the very obvious and growing US unease? Or did the President want to simply take the cushion of the parliament to proceed ahead with the IP project? This should be clear in the coming days.
The writer is a senior journalist and has been a diplomatic correspondent for leading dailies. She can be reached via email at [email protected]
