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Resetting US-Pakistan ties
Relations with the US are far too vital to be held hostage by political demagoguery.
Relations with the US are far too vital to be held hostage by political demagoguery.
The much-delayed parliamentary review on ties with the US is now facing further obstacles in the form of the unreasonable stance taken by the opposition political parties. Despite the fact that the parliamentary committee that produced the recommendations on re-engagement with the US comprised members of all parties and produced a report that was unanimously signed by the members, debate in parliament has been acrimonious. The main hurdle in the path to re-establishing ties with the US has been the uncooperative stance of the PML-N and the JUI-F. Some would say that their demands have been a bit unrealistic and that they may be trying to extract political mileage out of the situation.
Their main proposal is to link the transport of Nato supplies through Pakistan to a halt to drone attacks, an unrealistic demand that ignores the multi-layered dynamics of Pakistan-US relations. The reality is that the US, as shown by the May 2 raid, has not often cared about Pakistan’s sovereignty. But even if that was a concern for it, the US already has the military’s permission to carry out drone strikes. Parliament has essentially been cut out of that process. That it is now trying to reassert itself in the decision-making process is laudable but it needs to tread carefully. If it overreaches, as the PML-N and the JUI-F appear to be doing, there is a chance that it could be overridden by circumstances outside of its control.
Strategic powerplays aside, normalising relations with the US is a goal worth attaining. With the military sometimes unable to take on the militants in parts of the tribal areas, drone attacks have proved the most effective — if also the most controversial — method of eliminating militants. Holding that hostage to a fit of anti-American pique is a self-defeating exercise. The original Parliamentary Committee on National Security recommendations had also called for an end to drone attacks but did not link it to the resumption of Nato supplies, instead saying that the latter should be allowed only if the US pays its duties and taxes. This original formulation was far more sensible and the opposition parties should get on board with it. Relations with the US are far too vital to be held hostage by political demagoguery.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 12th, 2012.
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Reader Comments (15)
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Or perhaps the USA has simply demonstrated that it will protect it’s troops – whether they are fired at by Pakistani troops or terrorist who retreat inside Pakistan to find de-facto sanctuary. While Pakistan may find this an unreasonable policy it’s apparent that the rest of the World doesn’t agree with you.
Perhaps – but akin to the Arabs who have preached hatred of Israel to their people for decades it’s tough to suddenly try and convince the public that making peace with them is a logical thing to do. Your civilian and military leadership have blamed Pakistan’s numerous problems on the USA for a very long time — most of those claims designed to deflect their own inadequacies. Getting the people to buy off on a practical solution within a reasonable time isn’t going to happen.
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Quite an in-your-face assertion of the Editorial (writer) to say, “The reality is that the US, as shown by the May 2 raid, has not often cared about Pakistani sovereignty. But even if that were a concern for it, the US already has the military’s permission to carry out drone strikes”.
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I take exception to such anti-American assertions. America is a democratic country, and is the foremost salesman for democratic form of government, where the elected representatives of the people (the government) has control over the army and tells it what to do. Now, you are insinuating that the Paki Army is, on one hand, usurping the role and powers of the Paki Government to negotiate with foreign governments (and palpably surrendering national sovereignty); on the other hand, America is hypocritically undermining democracy in Pakia by negotiation deals with an sub-organ of the Paki state (the Army). The reader is thus told that America is undermining democracy in Pakia.
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In the Democratic tradition, does Sovereignty lie with the People or with the Military?
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What could really the purpose of this Editorial:
1. Attempt to insult and denigrate the Paki people, and telling them to lie back and enjoy the rape (of their soverignity)
2. Exposing America as a bully and a hypocrite.
Congratulations, for both the above purposes have been achieved.
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“The reality is that the US, as shown by the May 2 raid, has not often cared about Pakistan’s sovereignty.”
Pakistan and pakistani rulers themselves did not care for so called Pakistan;s sovereignty, (refer wikileaks and actions by Musharaff) How do u expect US to care when OBL could be traced to Abbotabad, either by complicitity or by incompetence of pak army/ISI.
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If US military is okay with giving its Afghan allies the lead in night raids as concluded yesterday; then it can also put Pakistan military in the lead when it comes to tracking and capturing armed militants/bandits on her soil. If that requires surveillance equipment, chinooks, reaper drones, or vipers then US should be glad to share her materiel. Paks are good for it. If that is not good enough for Nato/ISAF then they are free to seek better allies like India/Russia/Uzbekistan who can help.
I think fair is fair – no blame game for either side. If one does not trust another then do not ask for favors either.Recommend
By finding and killing OBL and dumping his body in the ocean, the US has done a historic favor to the people and govt of Pakistan. Most Pakistanis do not realize this fact right now but they would in due course of time. Let us say for the sake of argument, if the US has found OBL and or handed him over to Pakistan it would have been a disaster for the country. What would we have done with him? He would have been a hero and legend of millions of militant extremists and Pakistan cannot establish its writ on its own territory what would they have done then?
These terrorists have killed more Pakistanis and Muslims than anybody else in the 21st century and the process has not ended yet. What Pakistan could not find or handle, the US has done and we have to be thankful to them. Without any of our resources spent, the US has taken care of most of the top terrorists on Pakistani soil. No other country could have performed this service for Pakistan and the whole neighborhood.
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@Dr Jamil Chaudri:
If you are going to stake claim on your sovereignty, then you have to practice it too.
All US is asking Pakistan to do is take control of the ares in North Waziristan and flush out the Terrorists who are waging an insurgency in Afghanistan. Now, either you take control of your Territory or withdraw your claim.
China too has problems with Pakistan, in the same manner. Terrorists infiltrate into Xinjiang and cause problem.
If you wanna talk about Sovereignty, then learn to practice it. It comes with responsibility which Pakistan is not capable to handle, so why bother with all this drama?
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It is important to keep the supply lines closed as it is direct interference in the affairs of Afghanistan. They are not a god-given right, and the US can certainly use some less dependance on Pakistan. If the Loya Jirga in Afghanistan requests that Pakistan allow the US-led forces’ supplies, then, and only then should the applicable taxes and fees apply. Either way supplying those that kill you isn’t exactly pragmatic. The drone strikes need to discussed in terms of international law and their efficacy. Not only are they belligerent sticking points in relations with Pakistan, they don’t seem to have much effect except for killing innocent men, women, and children. Positive developments in the political and security elites’ probable acquiescence is the first, major step.
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Hasn’t US already ‘reset’ its relationship with Pakistan? – From one where it was the fool, to one where it is refusing to be ‘fooled’?
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@BruteForce:
Salutations. Let me explain:
Some things are NOT claimed; some are even God given while some are universally recognised. BRUTE FORCE war mongers like to bait weaker parties to start using force so as to provide them with an excuse to annihilate the weaker. From the Pakistani perspective as well as from a majority world perspective (exception being the American NATO mercenaries) and, moreover, from the Afghan perspective, American CONTROL over Afghania is unwarranted. Only Bullies like to CONTROL others.
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Your claims about China having problems with Pakistani are specious and artificial. Unless, of course, somebody is paying Chinese dissidents to operate from Pakistan, with the purpose of incubating difference between the two “all-weather” friends.
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Sovereignty cannot be discussed with practitioners Brute Force; Neanderthals knew the concept of BRUTE FORCE, which helped them with limited brainpower to CLAIM and EXERCISE their self-perceived sovereignty, without the OBLIGATION to RECOGNISING or HONOURING the sovereignty of others. Recommend
@Dr Jamil Chaudri:
You can disprove your own rebuttals just by using the search function on this web site.
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@MarkH:
Salutations, MarkH.
Even in a single posting, three or four perspectives were covered. Which of my assertions are you claiming will get rebutted?
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Also, newspapers try to cover (or create) leads from different angles. Even if there is something in this paper which refutes my contensions, it does imply that the contradictory story has veracity, applicability, or currency. For each refuting assertion I could find you an equal (if not greater ) number of supporting and affirming published evidences.
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If only the U.S. could develop technology which would enable drones to distinguish between terrorists and innocent people! Seriously, why can’t Maulana Fazal and Nawaz Sharif/Imran Khan, etc. convince the jihadis to stop killing American troops between now and 2014? After the Americans leave, they can do whatever they like in Afghanistan.
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Cool!
Keep it up and wish you all the very best!
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will Editorial desk logically describe as to why is it insensible to link resumption of NATO supplies with halt on Drone strikes? cant we bargain some issues for the protection of our nationals? is it right to let foreigners to attack and kill Pakistanis??? is it sensible to resume NATO supplies even if they attack our people?? stop doing propaganda and agents of enemies…
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The establishment on one side reopeming of Nato supply through parliment and on the other side using Mullah to abuse political leadership. this double game is mother of all problem.
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