Sticking to his guns
Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has again called for dialogue among Afghan stakeholders to install peace in the war torn country, without explicitly criticising US President Donald Trump’s policy on Afghanistan, which renews America’s resolve to find peace there though guns and more US troops.
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, while addressing the United Nations (UN), unequivocally reiterated Pakistan’s stance not to be a scapegoat for Afghanistan’s bloodshed or to fight wars for others. This is not new and the question, we should ask ourselves, is: who is listening to us? America? Afghanistan? UN? India and Iran? None of them, it can be said safely.
Commenting on the issue, senior journalist and political analyst, Ahsan Raza told DNA that the new policy of Trump on Afghanistan and South Asia, unveiled in August, puts onus on Pakistan, which attracted displeasure in Islamabad and cheers in Kabul and New Delhi. There is a disagreement between the key stakeholders on terms of action against militants, though all sides want to terminate them.
Raza said Pakistan wants action against militant groups based in Afghanistan, such as Harkatul Ahrar, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, al Qaeda and Islamic State groups, whereas Afghanistan is mainly interested in rooting out Haqqani group and Quetta Shura of Taliban, allegedly having sanctuaries in Quetta and Peshawar.
Pakistan, however, stresses the need to find a political solution for Afghanistan by initiating dialogue with Taliban factions. This puts the whole Afghan issue in an awkward situation. Having suffered fragmentation in recent years after the reported death of founder Taliban emir Mullah Umer, the militant group has been divided into many groups and many a times they are engaged in infighting, he added.
Raza opined that Pakistan’s support for militant Taliban groups in the Afghan solution generates whims in the international community about its resolve to fight terror and unrest in Afghanistan.
“Though military prowess by America and NATO forces has failed to eradicate them, Taliban militants are in hiding, not ruling the Kabul streets.” Raza said.
It is time Pakistan listens to the international community and works with them to fight militancy and find a durable solution for a peaceful Afghanistan.
Very rightly, not only he used his UN address to renew condemnation of India’s rule in held Kashmir but Shahid Khaqan Abbasi also spoke out and out of massive and indiscriminate force in Indian held Kashmir, calling for an international investigation and warned of escalation on their military frontier, the Line of Control, he said.
India has answered Pakistan’s diplomatic assertion with unprovoked heavy shelling on the villages along the Working Boundary in Sialkot and some areas of the Line of Control, killing six Pakistani civilians. The shelling disregards Shahid Khaqan Abbasi’s warning that “Pakistan has acted with restraint. But if India does venture across the LoC, or acts upon its doctrine of limited war against Pakistan, it will evoke a strong and matching response”. In a recent strategic doctrine, unveiled by India, it is stated that a limited military war will be fought within Pakistan.
He said that this is a dangerous doctrine, as it may trigger nuclear war in South Asia. Why is the world community oblivious to this threat? Kashmir issue is also as important as Afghanistan for peace in South Asia.
However, veteran journalist and former High Commissioner to UK, Wajid Shamsul Hasan was of the opinion that Prime Minister Shahid Khan Abbasi’s speech in the UNGA was being awaited anxiously in various quarters of concern since it was to come after American President Donald Trump’s diatribe against Pakistan and his threats to take unilateral action against safe havens of terrorists. UNGA offered a podium to defend Pakistan, present its case before the international community and an opportunity to slip out of a difficult situation created by American President’s hostility.
Usually such ceremonial occasions are ritually addressed in high-sounding rhetoric for domestic audience while substantively there is more of a repetition of past speeches (now easily done by cut-and-past technology) when old issues remain unresolved.
Ambassador Wajid said unless one is a leader of Zulfikar Ali Bhutto’s stature and knowledge, one must not expect fireworks or qualitative suggestions and recommendations on various issues of global importance, by a person of ordinary bearing.
Speeches are prepared by the senior foreign office boys and professionally these reflect issues related to Pakistan such as Kashmir, Afghanistan, Palestine and currently genocide of Muslims in Myanmar.
In Prime Minister Abbasi’s speech, too, one could see the routine and nothing extraordinary that could draw serious attention. Criticism by usual critics that language was brash and that it was hastily drafted needs to be looked into, the veteran journalist said.
As regards Prime Minister Abbasi’s presentation was concerned, it was as good or as bad as could be for a person making his maiden speech at the highest international forum. Thank God, he was at least decently dressed in black Shirwani that successfully camouflaged his usually half-asleep, half-awake sleep-walk impression.
Ambassador Wajid said though unruffled all through, he mentioned Kashmir and strongly criticised India for its human rights violations and increasing cross-border skirmishes. He could have threatened the world with the possibility of border provocations getting converted into larger and more lethal conflagration—to say the least such acts could cross into the pale of prohibition and cause three-minute suicidal nuclear boom to doom.
Prime Minister Abbasi did send a message to President Trump that Pakistan cannot be made a scapegoat for failed American policies in Afghanistan. However, his defence of Pakistan’s war against terrorism, accusation against Islamabad that it was providing safe havens and that it needed to do more was better addressed to by British Prime Minister Theresa May, he added.
In an emotional speech Prime Minister May—her country becoming victim of frequent acts of terrorism—reminded the world of her dear friend Benazir Bhutto who was martyred by terrorists. “This year is the tenth anniversary of the death of the woman who introduced me to my husband, and who was known well to many of us in this United Nations. Benazir Bhutto was brutally murdered by people who actively rejected the values that all of us here in this United Nations stand for,” she said.
Ambassador Wajid said that Theresa May’s speech should serve as an eye-opener for the overly biased, anti-Bhutto PML-N leadership and others. By mentioning the colossal Bhutto tragedy Prime Minister May encapsulated various ugly manifestations of terrorism and their catastrophic impact on the life of human beings world over. There could not be a better exposition of the evil that threatens everyone where ever one is.
