So the conference in Seoul might be about the nuclear issue but the upcoming meeting between premier Yousaf Raza Gilani and US President Barack Obama has assumed central importance. Their meeting – which, though it might not exclude the nuclear issue, will most definitely not centre wholly around it – is set to possibly upstage the rest of the second global nuclear safety summit.
It has been two years since the two met last. And, if they were to actually start talking, there would be a lot of ground to cover. The Salala incident, followed by Pakistan’s closing down of the Nato supply routes is one incident. The Abbottabad fiasco is another. Both sides have their set of complaints and allegations. Relations have been strained.
It would be incorrect, however, to assume that the meeting is going to lead to much breakthrough. These are not the times of yore, where the discretion of heads of government held complete sway over all matters diplomatic. The American foreign policy machine is heavily bureaucratised and many stages have to be passed through to get anything done. Similarly, Mr Obama’s Pakistani counterpart, despite his many spirited claims to the contrary, does not really call the shots when it comes to foreign policy.
What the meeting does hold is an opportunity in public diplomacy. Pakistan’s parliament is to decide soon whether or not to continue the blockade. The militants have already issued a warning and said they will target lawmakers if it were to be discontinued. The diplomacy opportunity, were President Obama to be serious about mending fences, could lie in the words he might use. If he were to be his articulate warm-when-he-wants-to-be self, he could make lifting the blockade less unpalatable than the idea currently is in Pakistani public discourse. If he continues to want to seem tough for his own domestic audience, especially in what is an election year, then it would do both sides a whole lot of good not to meet at all.
