And our isolation
The Modi-led Indian government insists that Kashmir is an internal affair of New Delhi. However, this time around voices blaming Pakistani sponsored ghuspathias(intruders) and atanwadis (terrorists) from across the Line of Control are surprisingly muted
Pakistan is rightly worried about the latest wave of state terrorism being perpetrated in held Kashmir by the Indian security forces. The cabinet meeting chaired by the prime minister and the corps commanders have both expressed solidarity with our Kashmiri brethren.
In this context even long forgotten relevant UN resolutions have been invoked. Permanent Representative Dr Maleeha Lodhi, speaking at the UN General Assembly, has called for a plebiscite in the strife-torn valley.
The Modi-led Indian government insists that Kashmir is an internal affair of New Delhi. However, this time around voices blaming Pakistani sponsored ghuspathias(intruders) and atanwadis (terrorists) from across the Line of Control are surprisingly muted.
The present wave of unrest in the Valley that was triggered by the wanton killing of Kashmiri freedom fighter Burhan Waani perhaps even took Pakistan by surprise. Paradoxically, it had seemed that things are settling down in the valley and the Indian government, through brutal state force, has been able to suppress the Kashmiris.
Nonetheless, it seems now that the young freedom fighters have had enough and are up in arms against the occupying Indian forces. Even the amalgam of Kashmiri leadership Hurriyat has been forced to follow suit in this context by coming out in support of the hurraytpsands.
But unfortunately in this context the Pakistani nation seems like a divided house. Bilawal Bhutto, perhaps in his anxiety to win the general elections for Azad Kashmir Assembly — due later this week — has alleged that Nawaz Sharif is silently backing Modi’s atrocities in IHK.
It seems almost surreal coming from Bilawal whose late mother Benazir Bhutto and more recently his father, while he was president, were accused by the establishment of wooing India at the expense of the national interest — as defined by the powers that be. There is swath of public opinion including most of the politicians — quite contrary to the establishment’s view — who feel that better relations with India is the only way forward.
PerhapsPrime Minister Sharif did go too far in his anxiety to woo the present Indian leadership. Ignoring the Hurriyat leadership while in Delhi to attend Modi’s oath taking and more recently the Indian prime minister showing up at his grand daughter’s wedding at Jati Umra perhaps sent completely wrong signals.
Nonetheless, responsible politicians with a liberal agenda should be careful to confine political differences within the limits of Pakistan’s declared foreign policy objectives. No one even in the ruling BJP or theIndian opposition accused their prime minister of being a Pakistani agent when he visited Lahore unannounced. Perhaps they were well aware that it was all a ruse on Modi’s part to woo the Sharifs.
We all know that Pakistan can ill afford to go to war over the present turmoil in IHK. But even for conducting successful and meaningful diplomacy, a modicum of a unified front is a sine qua non. Ground realities, however, speak otherwise.
The controversy over how to probe the Panama leaks still looms large. Imran Khan, with the backing of Bilawal Bhutto, wants Nawaz Sharif’s scalp over the issue. The opposition is moving towards launching street protests if Sharif does not agree to their version of TORs on Panamagate by next month.
Another complicating factor is the pervasive perception that all is not well between the civilian and khaki leadership. Last week banners asking army chief Gen Raheel Sharif to take over mysteriously appeared in major cities including the cantonment areas.
Only after outcry in the media, the ISPR, the PR wing of the military, through a tweet distanced the army from having anything to do with the campaign. Post haste, the civilian administration moved to remove the posters of ‘the move on party’.
Ali Hashmi the so-called organiser of the party, while speaking to the media, had openly claimed that his goal was to suggest to the army chief to impose martial law and form a government of technocrats.
Unfortunately ‘eliminating corruption’ has become the buzzword in politics Pakistan style. Ironically most amongst those who are clamouring for ehtisab of the hukmaraans (accountability of the rulers), themselves do not have much of a moral high ground to stand on.
This is not to say that our leadership should be above reproach or any sort of accountability. However a distinction should be made between making the rulers accountable and throwing the baby out with the bath water. The latter seems to be the objective of quite a few amongst our political class and a section of the media punditry.
Despite protestations to the contrary, while this is going on Islamabad’s international and regional isolation seems to be complete. Only advisor on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz can say with a straight face that vitriolic criticism of Pakistan by a US Congressional panel was merely motivated by baseless concerns of some legislators.
Of course the Congressmen panel went too far, some of them calling for declaring Pakistan a terrorist state while others calling for putting a blanket ban on Pakistanis entering the US. The very next day the US administration put somewhat of a dampener on the Congressional panel. It duly acknowledged Pakistan’s efforts to combat terrorism and the sacrifices made in the process.
Nonetheless the State Department deputy spokesperson Mark Toner, while briefing the media, not unlike the US lawmakers demanded that Pakistan move against the Afghan Taliban operating from its soil. The US obviously wants Islamabad not to continue to provide a safe haven to the Haqqani network and to release the incarcerated CIA operative Shakeel Afridi.
Peshawar’s Army Public School (APS) massacre mastermind Umar Mansur has been killed inside Afghanistan by a US drone attack. This is what Islamabad had demanded when a US drone killed TTP emir Mullah Akhtar Mansur some two months ago.
Pakistan, strongly protesting that the drone attack over Balochistan was a violation of its sovereignty, had taken the position that the US drone should be attacking safe havens of militants in Afghanistan. Now the US has done exactly what Islamabad had wanted.
Obviously the shoe is now on the other foot. Washington will be pressing General Raheel Sharif to walk the talk by going after all militants holed up in Pakistan without distinction.
On the other hand the so-called quadrilateral process to revive talks with the Afghan Taliban is at a standstill. A spokesman of Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has made it amply clear that Kabul had no plans to revive the peace talks.
It is a sad reflection of the ham-handedness of our foreign and security policy mandarins that the goodwill generated after Afghan president Ashraf Ghani taking over from the belligerent Hamid Karzai in September 2014 has dissipated. Now Ghani sounds as bitter as his predecessor.
Interestingly at the NATO summit in Warsaw earlier this month Ghani was present. On the other hand Pakistan was not even invited at the ambassadorial level. This is symptomatic of the complete international isolation of the ‘key regional player’.
Perhaps Sharif back on the saddle apart from calling an envoys conference should, along with the army chief, be thinking of holding an APC on Kashmir and revisiting Pakistan’s foreign policy priorities. Tainted by Panamagate, however, it will be an uphill task for him.
