Pakistan-Russia detente?

Columnist Ansar Mahmood Bhatti says that it was necessary to clear the air about wrong perceptions.

The fast changing geo-political scenario has made it mandatory for the South Asian countries, particularly Pakistan and India to bridge their differences and help ensure an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity in the region. Afghanistan and Kashmir are the flashpoints that have pushed the region towards precipitation. Thus, lasting and durable peace remains a far cry. Though reduced to a rumble, Russia still has a say in the world politics. Its external and internal policies, however, do not carry the influence that was once a hallmark of the Russian foreign policy. It is something awful for a country that had been a super power.
Russia, nevertheless, has a pivotal role to play in the South Asian region. It is a close ally of India. This is because of the Russian backing and benevolence that India is on the loose to proceed ahead with its goal of expansionism in the region. Afghanistan is another area where Russian role cannot be denied. President Pervez Musharraf’s visit to Russia has been a success. This was the first-ever visit of a Pakistani President since 1965. It’s however, better though a bit late. Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, during his second stint as prime minister had visited Russia for the first time after 25 years. The Pakistani leadership owed a visit to Russians ever since independence. It is now an open secret that relations between the two countries became soar when Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan, while shelving the Russian invitation in 1949, tilted towards America, thus laying the foundation of Pak-US relations.
It was President Ayub Khan who first visited Russia on April 5, 1965 at the moment when the hazards of the war had engulfed the entire region. Tempers were running very high and both Pakistan and India had made up their minds to go for a decisive bout, to settle the Kashmir dispute once and for all. Ayub Khan, when landed in Moscow, was taken to Kremlin where he held deliberations with the Russian Prime Minister, Mr. Kosygin and the Russian Foreign Minister. President Ayub Khan tried his level best to woo the Russian leadership for a negotiated and peaceful solution to the Kashmir issue, which had brought both countries at the verge of destruction.
President Ayub, who got a rousing welcome in Moscow, was pretty hopeful that the Russian intervention will certainly help strike an amicable solution. President Ayub knew it very well that the Russians were annoyed with Pakistan for the latter had allowed the United States to use it as its base to stem the tide of Russian infiltration into the warm waters to establish its hegemony and monopoly in the Gulf. The Russian Prime Minister, Kosygin could not allay what was in his mind and at last he spoke out his heart to Ayub Khan when he complained “Pakistan had been working hand in hand with the United States”. The USSR saw Pakistan acting as an instrument of US policies in the region. Pakistan was also member of SEATO and CENTO. The Russians could hardly digest this reality since both these organizations were under the direct command of the United States.
President Ayub Khan had a very lengthy discussion with the Russian Prime Minister but he could not bring round Kosygin on the Kashmir question. President Ayub, on one occasion said, “Mr. Prime Minister, you know very well that the Kashmir issue is a bone of contention between Pakistan and India. You are going to lose nothing by helping both countries crack this hard nut”. The Russain prime minister, in response said, “We will do nothing to fan this issue. We will try to bring it to an end”. That was all President Ayub could extract from the Russians on Kashmir. More or less, similar assurances have been extended to President Pervez Musharraf.
On 17 April, the Soviet Prime Minister, Alexei Kosygin came to Pakistan on an official visit. This was the first ever visit of a Soviet Premier and the crowds gave Kosygin a red-carpet welcome which embarrassed the American officials in Islamabad. The meeting between Ayub and Kosygin on 18 April lasted for well over three hours. The Soviet Union signed an agreement for financing and executing the steel mill project in West Pakistan. An understanding was also reached regarding the setting up of an atomic power plant in East Pakistan. The Soviet Union offered assistance for establishing a radio-relay link between Pakistan and the USSR and beyond to Europe. Prime Minister Kosygin addressed a press conference at the end of his visit. He said that relations between Pakistan and the Soviet Union would continue to improve and strengthen.
The recent visit of President Pervez Musharraf has, however, set new dimensions so far as Pak-Russia relations are concerned. Some agreements in trade sector have also been signed. Both sides have also made a commitment to work assiduously for the promotion of trade and economic cooperation to big proportions. During former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit, the Russian side did not mention even a single word, in their communique, about the Kashmir issue. However, they had opposed the idea of a unipolar world only because they would be the major losers if in case of implantations of such an idea. The Russian President, Vladimir Putin, in his press conference, urged both Pakistan and India to resume dialogue for the solution to Kashmir problem. This is indeed a significant development keeping in view the previous visit of Nawaz Sharif to Russia.
One thing is to be kept in mind that the Indians have a strong lobby in Russia, which is pre-occupied with, the task of further strengthening their relations. The military cooperation, inter alia, is substantial between Russia and India. Historically, both countries are tied in the strong bonds of friendship. The Pakistan leadership will have to work selflessly in order to win Russian sympathies on Kashmir and other issues.
There is still a lot more to be done to promote ties between the two countries. Former Russian President Boris Yeltsin had said, “Both countries should bury the past”. The same determination and desire seemed writ large on the faces of the Russian leadership during President Musharraf’s visit.
The Russians know very well that after the collapse of USSR they are no more in the commanding position. Their economic condition is also in a shambles, which along with other factors, has forced them to cultivate cordial relations with their neighbours. Secondly, they have always been against a unipolar world, therefore, they are in need of confidants to push forward with their campaign against forces which are promoting idea of unipolarism.
The situation is ripe for enhanced Pakistan-Russian relations since both countries now have unanimity of views on many issues. The core thing is that the issues, which had been bone of contention between the two countries, have almost been eliminated. The Afghanistan imbroglio has come to its logical end, therefore, Pakistan and Russia have hardly any difference of opinion or conflict on the Afghan issue. Both countries have more or less similar views on the issue of Iraq and then both are part of coalition against terrorism. We, therefore, can hope President Musharraf’s recent visit to Russia will usher in a new era of Pak-Russia relations.