- It may be a pressure tactic to make it deliver on China, say experts
With signals from Washington suggesting that the recent travel ban imposed on seven Muslim countries might be extended to other countries, including Pakistan, experts believe such a move may be counterproductive and may backfire soon.
Experts view that strategic but calculated media leaks were being made by the White House officials, perhaps as a pressure tactic to build pressure over Pakistan and other Asian countries to make them follow dictates of Trump administration blindly.
White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, while talking on CBS News, said the ban could be put to “other countries” that have similar problems like Pakistan and others — perhaps “we need to take it further,” said Priebus.
“But for now, immediate steps, pulling the Band-Aid off, is to do further vetting for people traveling in and out of those countries. Let me clarify that this is ‘not a Muslim ban’,” added the White House chief of staff.
Michael Kugelman, a senior journalist, went on to state on a social media website, Twitter, that Trump’s chief of staff had said in an interview what Trump suggested “several days ago”. “The ban may be expanded to include #Pakistan”.
A senior official in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, however, rejected the possibility of such a harsh step, saying any such move would be an “ill-advised” proposal which would be “counterproductive” and “may backfire” soon.
“First of all, the visa regime has remained strict since 9-11 by all the countries in the west. The strictness is not specific to Pakistan,” the official said.
The official said if one goes by Trump’s gesture that he expressed in his telephone call to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif after winning elections, then such a move of banning visitors from Pakistan seems unlikely.
“Moreover, Pakistan is still extending logistical support to the US and NATO forces in Afghanistan. [The] US would be ill-advised if at all it is thinking of any such move,” the official added.
But after signing Logistics Exchange Memorandum of Agreement (LEMOA) with India that allows establishment of airbases in India, the US dependence on Pakistan for logistical support might reduce. “Even in that case, imposition of restrictions would still be imprudent. There would be repercussions of any such move,” the official noted, saying that the US can’t ignore Pakistan due to its influence over Afghanistan and its unique geostrategic location in the region.
“The regional dynamics are changing. After spending over a trillion dollars of American exchequers’ money in Afghanistan that unstable country is in the hands of divided, corrupt, infested political elite. With world’s most of the terrorist organizations, the weak Afghan national Government would be untenable,” the official added.
The diplomat said that Pakistan’s cooperation would remain crucial for Trump administration. “Reliance on India would be counter-productive in the longer run. Besides, India can’t handle situation in Afghanistan. US and India can’t go a long way vis-à-vis Afghanistan peace as a peaceful Afghanistan doesn’t serve Indian objective while a stable Afghanistan is the top objective of the US administration,” the official concluded.
Eminent scholar and Chairman of Pakistan, China Institute, Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed believes such a move is highly speculative.
“That would be speculative as they have not stated any such thing as yet. The US policy to date is regarding the seven states cited already. So, I wouldn’t like to comment on something that has not happened or may not even happen,” he said talking to Pakistan Today.
“All I can say is that the ‘freedom of movement’, including migration or emigration, is recognised as a human right as part of American and international laws. Already, there is shame and embarrassment in the US over the 1939 episode when 900 Jews fleeing Hitler’s Germany were not only refused entry into the US, but also forced back into the hands of the Nazis, who had 254 of these Jews killed in concentration camps. So, we hope that the world and the US itself has changed for the better since 1939 – around 78 years ago,” concluded Mushahid Hussain Sayed.