Tit-for-tat diplomacy

Pakistan and Bangladesh need to draw a line across the miserable history they were forced into sharing, a history that was never going to end well no matter what the colonial architects might have wished or imagined. Diplomatic expulsions are the flavour of the month with Saudi Arabia, Iran and Bahrain busy throwing out diplomats right and left, and it is now Pakistan and Bangladesh that are trending on the expulsion front. We have ordered the expulsion of a Bangladeshi diplomat for her alleged involvement in “undesirable activities” — which is the usual euphemism for espionage. She is — or was — the political counsellor and Head of Chancery at the High Commission of Bangladesh in Islamabad, and the move seems to be a belated response to the expulsion by Bangladesh on December 23, 2015 of a Pakistani diplomat allegedly said to have been spying — a charge naturally dismissed as baseless.



This is the first time that Pakistan has ever expelled a Bangladeshi diplomat and given that there is no detail regarding what it is that she is supposed to have done, it is impossible to comment one way or the other as to how correct or otherwise the move was. This sort of tit-for-tat diplomacy has echoes of the Cold War with its sterile posturing and one-upmanship, which to the common person-in-the-street often seemed more like juvenile petulance than grown-up statecraft. There is nothing to be gained for either side, and in the way of diplomacy everywhere the newly-vacated posts will be quietly refilled a few months down the line and it will be back to business as usual. All of this futility is likely linked to the execution in Bangladesh (another ill-timed event) of opposition politicians for events that occurred in the 1971 war. Another execution of a Bangladeshi for alleged historical crimes is possible within the next three months. In theory, this can carry on in perpetuity, but we hope it will not. If Pakistan and India can attempt at smoking the pipes of peace, then so can Pakistan and Bangladesh. Draw a line and move on.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 9^th, 2016.

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