Adjusting “Our Principled Stand”

Publisher and Managing Editor IKRAM SEHGAL wrote an article entitled Adjusting “Our Principled Stand” for THE NATION which we are re-producing with thanks.

A week long “senior” envoys conference started a couple of days ago in the nation’s capital. Among the dozen or so envoys taking part are Ambassadors Maleeha Lodhi (USA), Shahryar Khan (France), Riaz Khokhar (China), High Commissioner Jahangir Ashraf Qazi (India) etc. To quote an unnamed source, “It will be a unique occasion in a sense that it will provide ample opportunity to the Foreign Office and the envoys to re-orient the foreign policy. We are endeavouring to turn the foreign policy from a somewhat poor vehicle to an efficient vehicle to achieve results,” unquote. The “seven” (after the CE’s annunciating of a seven-point agenda SEVEN is somewhat of a magical number in Pakistan) includes (1) peace and security in South Asia (2) Kashmir (3) terrorism (4) CTBT (5) enhancing Pakistan’s image abroad (6) economic, trade matters and (7) domestic issues.

To serve as a backdrop to where we stand diplomatically in the scheme of things, both in the region and internationally, ASEAN this week dropped Pakistan’s application to join the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) which comprises the 10 ASEAN countries and main dialogue partners G-8 countries, South Korea and India. According to Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, “Pakistan’s application was entertained quite thoroughly but we do not have a consensus on this issue and we will leave the matter for some other time”. Despite good support from Philippines and Thailand, India managed (through Vietnam) to keep Pakistan out at the ARF talks held in Bangkok on July 27 and 28. To underscore our diplomatic predicament North Korea, considered to be our international and regional pariah, was represented for the first time by its Foreign Minister. Earlier India has thus been involved in two initiatives to keep Pakistan out in the cold from international forums i.e. not counting the Commonwealth suspension, the association of countries of the Indian Ocean RIM (a Mauritius initiative) on Indian initiative regional Business Forum in the Bay of Bengal consisting of India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Malaysia, etc. Obviously in the world’s “democratic environment” khaki is at a disadvantage in front of mufti. Former Foreign Secretary and Ambassador to France Shahryar Khan was eloquent in countering this on “Hardtalk” on BBC the other day. May you continue to play cricket, Shahryar Sahib, for a long time!

Let’s face it, for a variety of reasons we are on the backfoot vis-a-vis India and far more than diplomatic factors, the issue is one of media and perception that India has exploited effectively in combination, using the opportunities that have either come their way either (1) because of our ineptitude or (2) manipulating facts into fiction to our disadvantage. Remaining glued to “our principled stand”, we find ourselves increasingly on quicksand. For the most part we have excellent envoys, Maleeha Lodhi has done exceedingly well in the USA to not only counter India’s propaganda and explain the reason for our khaki-ness, Riaz Khokhar’s success in China can be gauged from the fact that despite economic compulsions and “the responsible stance” one would expect from a newly emerging power, the Chinese Foreign Minister clearly annunciated China’s continued defence co-operation with Pakistan during his visit to India. In India itself Jahangir Ashraf Qazi has given an excellent account of himself, refusing to be either cowed down or browbeaten by the RSS propaganda that is the core of BJP’s foreign policy thrust. One certainly hopes one day we will find people-friendly Pakistan Embassies in the world (like I did when I visited the Philippines recently) and that the attitude of our Foreign Office staff populating these diplomatic posts will change for the better, the fact remains that diplomatically, in the present circumstances, our Foreign Ministry has managed to hold its own in an increasingly India-dominated (at least in our context) diplomatic world. Given that we are under autocratic rule, anathema to the present liberal world, that is no mean achievement.

The first and second points in the Foreign Ministry’s SEVEN-POINT agenda, are inexorably intertwined i.e. peace and security in South Asia and the Kashmir issue. Even though the dynamics of the dispute are fast changing we must not continue to be boxed into a corner by taking an obdurate “and principled stand”. Until we find a reasonable settlement for the core issue of the Kashmiri people, no government in Pakistan can accept any compromise. However, we must work towards a workable solution and not seem to be obstructionists. The recent offer of ceasefire by the Hizbul Mujahideen and the tacit Indian acceptance of the same should be exploited for what it is, that Kashmir is an indigenous uprising which by inference India now accepts. As regards terrorism India has been successful in labelling us with this tag in the international world because of the media faux pas over Kargil. Where the fighting was going on in no-man’s land, a relative novice in the PR world tried to be over-smart and project that “Mujahideen” had crossed the LoC, thereby running into a self-created trap that the Indians have exploited for all its worth. The Indians suffered horrendous casualties but our biggest casualty was credibility. Posterity will eventually discover the man responsible for this faux pas, to save his hide this country has had to suffer continuing adversity. Individuals in Pakistan matter more than the country’s prime interests. We have been able to mollify Iran as to Afghanistan, superpower USA also seems to understand our stance, Osama Bin Laden excluded. However, we need to have a dual approach, viz (1) encourage the Talibaan that they need to be current with the times, that it does them a lot of harm if they go around shaving heads just because the football team was wearing shorts (2) encourage the world to interact with the Talibaan to bring them into the 21st century since they happen to be the ground reality having restored the peace in volatile Afghanistan and (3) show the Northern Alliance to be what they really are, a minority conglomeration of Tajiks and Uzbeks, a unholy nexus of religious ideologues and mercenaries who have combined on only one agenda, to either exercise rule over the majority or stay in a state of war. With respect to CTBT, our stance is absolutely correct, in the circumstances India has to sign first and we have to have a national consensus before we can do it. The difficult issue is enhancing Pakistan’s image abroad - and that cannot be done alone by the public sector. Our diplomatic posts have to ensure that the private sector media gets quality time to brief the media and intellectual forums in the various foreign capitals realistically, not a parroting of “our principled stand” that may be alright in substance but gets shot down as mere propaganda. There has to be better co-ordination between the Foreign Office and the Information Ministry, the Information Ministry has been engaged full-time in promoting whatever government was in power domestically whereas their real mission should be to promote the country’s image externally. There is inherent lack of knowledge about what is the reach of the media among our intellectuals. In a recent PTV “Current Affairs” programme being aired via satellite I asked a question from our eminent legal person Mr SM Zafar in English, he admonished me for using English and replied in Urdu. I was left somewhat non-plussed, how much of our international audience could understand Urdu and thus the thrust of his otherwise excellent arguments? Trade and economic matters are crucial to a country that is deeply beset with economic problems. The Embassies and Consulates has “Trade Sections” which do as well or as badly as they are staffed. The point person now has to be the Ambassador/High Commissioner. If the world’s superpowers envoys can do this on a continuing basis for their respective countries, some of our haughty envoys need to get off their “principled horse” for the sake of the country.

For years we have been locked into an anti-Israel, China at all costs, Kashmir or bust policy. We have to adapt these to the present circumstances in supersession of “our principled stand”. We have an identity crisis, are we South Asian, are we Central Asian or are we non-Arab Near Eastern? By origin and circumstances as well as geo-political location we are all of these, let’s exploit the advantage of this tri-polar identity. Above all we need to be pragmatic in our relationships, accepting compromise as a part of ground reality, especially on non-critical issues. Let’s get out of the stuffed-shirt syndrome and with rolled-up sleeves get on with establishing Pakistan’s pre-eminent position as an important geo-political crossroads player with a confirmed nuclear potential.

And we need not be apologetic about it!