The pursuit of national interest for Pakistan
While talking about Israel, Quaid-e-Azam said that “Israel is an illegitimate child of the West”. He was right and it was a pragmatic statement, since at that time the nascent state of Pakistan needed the support of the Muslim World in terms of recognition, bilateral relations and trade
John Mearsheimer, an American political scientist, believes that international politics has always been a ruthless and dangerous business. In this business, there is neither any permanent friend and nor a constant enemy. The national interest of a state can be said as the sole driving force in maintaining international relations. The phenomenon is not limited to great powers or major powers but even the weak states of Central Asia are also driven by this very fundamental principle. Foreign policy of a state is the central instrument in achieving the national interest.
Since its inception, the foreign policy of Pakistan remained overshadowed by its leaders. While talking about Israel, Quaid-e-Azam said that “Israel is an illegitimate child of the West”. He was right and it was a pragmatic statement, since at that time the nascent state of Pakistan needed the support of the Muslim World in terms of recognition, bilateral relations and trade. But later on, many Muslim countries including Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, etc, recognise the de-jure status of Israel. The foreign policy of Pakistan may take a pragmatic decision in the contemporary world while attaching certain conditions in recognising Israel as a legitimate state.
Menachem Begin was an Israeli Prime Minister. He was also a member of “Ingen” an extremist Zionist organisation responsible for the massacre of Palestinians on 8 April 1948. He along with his cabinet devised the Begin Doctrine and was quite aware of Saddam’s aims to gain nuclear capability. On 7 June 1981, under the Begin Doctrine, Israel conducted an air-raid on Saddam’s nuclear reactor at Osiraq and destroyed it. F-16 multi-role aircraft escorted by F-15 fighters of the Israeli Air Force took part in the attack. The attack was codenamed as Operation Opera. The Israeli raid deprived Saddam of making a weapon-grade nuclear warhead. Apart from an unprecedented attack, the Islamic Republic of Iran and Saudi Arabia played a vital role in the successful execution of Operation Opera. The attack also made it easy for the Coalition Forces to defeat Iraq in Operation Desert Storm a decade later.
It is a fact that Israeli Air Force and Indian Air Force worked very closely during the 1980s to conduct another Operation Opera against Pakistan and to destroy its nuclear research facilities at Kahuta. But credit must be given to President General Zia-ul-Haq and then Air Chief Anwar Shamim who preempted the situation and acquired F-16 fighter jets to counter a perceived-potential attack on the nuclear assets of Pakistan. The Israel-India nexus is dangerous for Pakistan, since India received much defence equipment from Israel, thus it has a twofold effect by strengthening its defence and increasing pressure on Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Israel inflicted huge casualties and damage on the combined Arab Forces of Palestine, Iraq, Syria, Jordan, Egypt and Lebanon which were in an overwhelming number armed with relatively advanced weapons and equipment. This clearly means that Arabs were and still in no position to fight and resist Israel. Fighter pilots of Pakistan Air Force flew Arabian jets and shot down Israeli jets, but that was the necessity of the time. Palestinians are now shaking hands with Israel. Why then must Pakistan remain isolated and keep itself controversial in the Middle-East?
In international relations a state must behave rationally and before taking a foreign policy decision, the relationship between cost and benefit must be meticulously scrutinised. Without a slightest doubt Israeli-Zionist mindset is prone towards violence and a usurper of Palestinian land, but Pakistan must consider its options by becoming a bridge between Israel and the Muslim World especially Palestine while at the same time fulfilling its national interest.
Pakistan’s move towards Israel would be a multi-vectored move. It would help Pakistan to maintain the balance of power in South Asia while at the same time project a progressive image of the country. It would significantly help Pakistan in its endeavour to join the Nuclear Suppliers Group and in the membership of Missile Technology Control Regime. It would be a completely unpredictable move and would yield a huge positive response from around the globe, especially from European Union, NATO and the West. Pakistan’s move towards Israel would considerably break the New Delhi-Washington-Tel Aviv axis against Pakistan. It would open numerous opportunities for Pakistan via China and Turkey, who are mutual friends of Pakistan and Israel.
The major criticism against this move would come from within Pakistan. The right-wing religious-political parties and organisations would protest strongly against the move. To overcome the expected agitation, a resolution can be brought to the National Assembly to develop consensus. The Muslim World especially Saudi Arabia must be dealt with in the same way as Pakistan responded to Saudi demands of sending Pak troops to fight in Yemen.
Pakistan firmly condemns the Israeli atrocities towards Palestinian Muslims but Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has given a de-jure legal status to Israel. Pakistan paid a heavy price of hostility with Israel in the name of Arab brotherhood. But it is quite an irony that most of those Arab brethren now maintain diplomatic relations with Israel. Israel has been arming India and providing it with its latest modern high-tech weaponry due to the fact that Pakistan does not recognise the de-jure existence of Israel.
Even if we consider Israel an enemy, how do we make peace if we don’t talk to our enemy? The situation has to be realised that Pakistan has no direct confrontation with Israel. Perhaps Pakistan has been fighting a “proxy war” for Arab Muslims especially Saudi Arabia who never supported Pakistan on the Kashmir Dispute by putting pressure on India. Israel-Palestinian affair is an international problem and it has little to do with Pakistan in particular since it does not hurt the interests of Pakistan. The Israeli-Jewish lobby has been quite effective in the decision-making of the United States and it has affected severely negative against Pakistan. It would be an astonishing fact for the readers that Pakistan and Israel worked closely at intelligence levels during the Soviet Afghan War. Mossad provided weapons to Inter Services Intelligence for the Afghan fighters.
Apart from the liberal values and thoughts, world affairs are still dominated by the Machiavellian ideas and the forces of realism. Maintaining hostile relations with Israel is not in the larger interest of Pakistan except it gives Pakistan some pseudo-prestige in the Muslim World. Due to being a small power in the international system, the foreign policy of Pakistan has always been designed and formulated on the tactical level but it does not mean that Pakistan cannot assert itself on the system. The relatively small Pakistan as compared to large India possesses an amazing and important geographical and geostrategic location.
From the perspective of international relations, Pakistan needs to make new promises and friends and to review the old ones. Recognising Israel may be one of the few initiatives. Those who still think that Pakistan must not recognise Israel due to the fact that it is violating rights of fellow Muslim brethren, should also know that two Islamic countries i.e. Iran and Saudi Arabia helped Israel directly or indirectly in denying their Islamic brother Iraq from making a weapon grade nuclear warhead. Iran provided intelligence and reconnaissance files while Saudi Arabia provided its air-space. Rodger Claire’s book “Raid on the Sun” (2004) describes what actually happened during the raid and was used in the pursuit of this article.
