Friday, March 29, 2024
 
 News Details
May brings bad tidings for Pakistan




By Manzoor Ahmed



May 2016 has been a bad month for Pakistan. Its impotent anger and fears are becoming more public than ever before. It is not at war, so there is no war hysteria to keep the people glued together. It is not at peace – either with itself, with neighbours or with the world. And that is worst for the nation’s mood.
If things around Pakistan are not too conducive, the situation within is one of feeling orphaned, what with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif undergoing heart surgery in London. His sickness has robbed his opponents of the opportunity to target him, so as not to hurt public sentiment, on issues like ‘Panamagate’ and that has taken away some of the fire and national preoccupation with corruption among the political class.
In his absence, army chief, Gen, Raheel Sharif summoned a meeting at the Army Headquarters where the civilian ministers who are technically -- but only technically – his superiors. The meeting triggered further criticism that the civilian leadership had conceded ground to the military. That has always been the case, but the meeting at the GHQ made things much too obvious, prompting even the beleaguered PPP to react.
The month has seen a setback in the earlier killing of Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Mansour, Islamabad’s hand-picked insurgent leader, who was running a violent campaign within Afghanistan and in no mood to talk to Kabul. Things were going Okay. Islamabad was able to tell the world that it cannot be expected to target the Taliban leaders and also bring them to the talks table. This cozy arrangement got breached when Mansour was killed in an American drone attack.
That Mansour was killed in Balochistan, on Pakistani territory, made Pakistan go into an impotent rage against America. Islamabad had to admit, formally, that the Taliban were living and thriving on its soil. The anger had an interesting angle. The media asked: when Mansour was known to travel around, why did the Americans kill him on Pakistani soil?
Even as the rage over Mansour was on and Pakistan vainly tried to implicate Iran by alleging that Mansour had traversed through Iran to return to Balochistan – and get killed, Iran was hosting leaders of India and Afghanistan. The three countries signed pacts for the development of Iran’s Chabahar port and road and rail links through Iran to Afghanistan that would effectively by-pass Pakistan. The Iranian ambassador to Islamabad fuelled the anger and dismay further when he disclosed that Iran had offered Chabahar deal to Pakistan and China. Obviously, neither had shown interest. And neither expected that India would clinch it even as the American sanctions are yet to be fully lifted.
So, what are you protesting about, the critics asked as they felt that Indian was ‘isolating’ Pakistan in the region. Already, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visits to UAE last year, later to Saudi Arabia and this month, to Qatar, have left Pakistanis fuming. The fellow-Muslims of the Atab world may give lip service to Pakistan and may employ a few thousand blue collared Pakistani workers. But when it comes to doing business and consider investment, they would turn to India.
The anti-American sentiment is strong since the old deal for F-16 fighter aircraft fell through. The Americans refused to pick up the bill. Not just that – they also blocked military aid of $ 330 million as Pakistani has done little to contain the Haqqani network.
Amidst all this, came Modi’s five-nation tour. He opened the Salma dam in Herat. Re-christened Afghan-India Friendship Dam, it is the standing symbol of India’s commitment and presence in Afghanistan – something Pakistan intensely resents. This was Modi’s second visit to Afghanistan in six months. For the claustrophobic Pakistanis, the feeling of isolation from two immediate neighbours – Iran and Afghanistan -- is complete.
That the Salma dam is in Shia majority Heart province is a good sop to Iran. Indirectly, this counterweighs Pakistan’s campaign against the Shia minorities at home.
While Modi is the fifth Indian prime minister to address the US lawmakers, Pakistan can boast only of Ayub Khan in 1961 and Benazir Bhutto in 1988 – despite Pakistan being an ally, part of the US-led military alliances and a Cold War supporter of America that had also helped it forge ties with China.
Pakistan has undoubtedly been most upset with the growing Indian-American proximity and the latter’s strong support for only India being made a member of the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG).
The only consolation Pakistan can derive is that China is working overtime, also pushing Islamabad’s application, and the final effect may be block India’s entry. Even as the NSG meeting was scheduled, Modi was able to knock off opposition from two key members, Switzerland and Mexico, during his five-nation tour, virtually isolating China, Pakistan’s fellow-Muslim nation Turkey that is in the throes of a presidential dictatorship and a few others who could fall in line after the American signal.
But Pakistan is inconsolable. Its anger and dismay have become a part of the official record and reaction.
It expressed its concern over growing strategic ties between India and the United States (US), a day after the two countries signed a number of agreements for security cooperation during Modi's visit to the US.
Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said that “the US approaches Pakistan whenever it needs it, and abandons it when it doesn't need Pakistan.”
"Pakistan will convey its concerns to US over the latest issues in the bilateral ties," Aziz said.
"We firmly conveyed it to the US that maintaining effective nuclear deterrence is critical for Pakistan's security and only Pakistan itself can determine how it should respond to growing strategic imbalance in South Asia," he said.
Always taking “me too” position against whatever India seeks from the international community, Pakistan has formally asked the US administration and Congress to support its application for joining the NSG. This came a day after Obama formally endorsed India’s application to join the group.
Pakistan submitted a formal application in Vienna last month, expressing its desire to join the group. But the US administration and Congress are both unwilling to support Pakistan.
In a letter to the US Senate Committee on Foreign Rela¬tions, Pakistan’s Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jilani reminded Congress that Pakistan had taken a series of steps that qualify it for joining the NSG.
Not a signatory of the NPT because India has not signed, Pakistan nevertheless argues that its presence in the NSG is in the interest of nuclear trading countries, as it will further promote NSG non-proliferation objectives by the inclusion of a state with nuclear supply capabilities and its adherence to the NSG guidelines.
Pakistan argues that a non-discriminatory and equitable approach by the participating governments of the NSG would help South Asia achieve a safer and more prosperous future.
But the US is not only supporting only India’s application but is also encouraging other countries, including China, to back the Indian move.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has offered unconditional support to India’s entry into the NSG.
Pouring salt on the Pakistani wounds as it were, at the end of the Obama-Modi meeting, the US asked Pakistan to ensure that its territory is not used for planning attacks in India’ This was after Modi told the US lawmakers that terrorism is being "incubated in India's neighbourhood".

"This is one of the steps that the US is encouraging Pakistan to do for the improvement of its relations with India," a state department spokesman said on Thursday.

All this is causing not just heart-burns in Pakistan, but also complains against the leadership, both civilian and military. The Mansour killing in American drone attack has fuelled it greatly.
The Pakistan government's throwing a hissy fit every now and then claiming "violation of its airspace and sovereignty" by American drones striking at Taliban strongholds along the Af-Pak border is drawing increasing flak at home, signifying a growing exasperation with its effete leadership.

One of Pakistan's best known columnists, Ayaz Amir has said: "Sovereignty is like virginity - once lost, it's lost forever. Pakistan has been losing its sovereignty for as long as one can remember."

Such "violation of sovereignty" has been going on for more than 12 years, when Nek Muhammad Wazir, a top anti-Pakistani jihadi, was killed in 2004 in South Waziristan in a drone attack, the first ever strike by an unmanned aerial vehicle on Pakistani soil.

Unprepared about how to react, then military spokesman, Major General Shaukat Sultan, claimed Pakistani forces had fired the missiles at Muhammad's compound. This claim was later found out to be a blatant lie.
Since then till the last drone attack on May 21, a total of 425 CIA-driven drone attacks have occurred in Pakistan with 128 of these, the highest figure in a year, carried out in 2010.
And yet, to the chagrin of the people of Pakistan, Prime Minister Sharif goes to the US to protest at the loss of sovereignty and the /army chief Sharif, as per his PR man, remains “seriously concerned” about it.








(The writer is a Free lance journalist based in Kashmir)



(Disclaimer: The views, observations and opinions expressed in above write up of Scoop News are strictly author's own. Scoop News does not take any onus or liability for the veracity, accuracy, validity, completeness, suitability of any of information in the above given write up. The information, facts or figures appearing in the write up in no way manifest the position, standpoint or stance of Scoop News and the Scoop News does not assume any encumbrance or answerability of the same.)



Editor
Scoop News,(scoopnews.in)
...
Share this Story
 
 
  Comment On this Story
 
 
 Back Issuesk Issues
If you are looking for Issues beyond today. You can simply use this calendar tool to view Issue of Scoop News for any particular Date.
   
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
© Scoop News, Jammu Kashmirr
Home || About Us || Advertise With Us || Disclaimer || Contact Us
Powered by Web Design Jammu