Pakistan hopes Biden will adopt balanced approach towards region

Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to United Nations Munir Akram has expressed the hope that United States, under the leadership of President-elect Joe Biden, will adopt a balanced approach towards India and Pakistan, and help prevent an all-out confrontation that threatens the region.

in a wide-ranging interview with a US magazine, Ambassador Akram called the US-India strategic partnership a “wrong choice,” but he still argued that improving ties with Pakistan could prove extremely beneficial for the upcoming administration.

“We hope that, as in the past, the US would adopt a balanced approach towards both India and Pakistan, an approach that is equitable, that takes into account the national interests of not only India, but also Pakistan,” he said.

“If there is a balanced policy from Washington towards the continent, I think Washington would find Pakistan a willing partner,” he added. “Obviously, Pakistan would like to have better relations with the United States, and we would be looking to find the areas of convergence where we can work together.”

India removed the special status of the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) in August last year which was followed by a severe lockdown that saw Indian troops committing human rights abuses against protesting Kashmiri people.

In the interview, Akram hoped that Biden as president would be willing to address these issues with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. In doing so, the Pakistani envoy said, the president-elect could help prevent an all-out confrontation that threatens the region.

“We hope that with this approach of adherence to the principles of human rights and opposition to repression and all that goes with it,” he said, “we will find common ground with the US to help us to defuse the situation in Kashmir, to help us in avoiding the danger of a conflict with our big neighbour.”

Biden’s running mate, former Senator Kamala Harris, whose mother was born in India, issued a statement during her campaign saying: “We have to remind Kashmiris that they are not alone in the world.” Akram said in the interview, he hoped “this translates into political action”.

“Hopefully, if the Biden administration is open to looking at the reality of the Jammu and Kashmir situation and what the Indians are doing there,” he told the magazine, “it will come to the conclusion that it is important to achieve a political solution as well.”

When pointed out that the US has reinvigorated the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (QUAD) in the context of Sino-Indian tensions, bringing together Australia and Japan in a bid to pursue a vision of a “free and open Indo-Pacific”, Akram said that Pakistan was not alarmed by these developments.

“The (QUAD] is not a direct concern for us,” he said, “because we are not in competition for regional or global power. We have no pretensions to be a major power.” However, Ambassador Akram suggested there was a real opportunity for expansion of the US-Pakistan relationship.

He explained that he understood why the US would wanted to court a market as big as India’s, but that Pakistan was seeking assurances that the Washington-New Delhi relationship would not come at Islamabad’s expense.

“We would like to be, obviously, reassured that such capabilities which are being shared with India, are not going to be used against Pakistan and they would not compromise Pakistan’s national security interests. And how Pakistan’s national interests and how non-security interests would be protected.”

Referring to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, Ambassador Akram mentioned that China might have “an advantage vis a vis investment in physical infrastructure” in Pakistan at the moment, but the United States has an advantage in investing in human infrastructure aside.

The Pakistani diplomat opined that the Biden administration would like to re-engage with the international community at the multilateral level to resolve issues like climate change, to achieve more equitable development and to address human rights and non-proliferation.

However, he added that these issues required working not only with partners, but with rivals also such as China. “If this is to be promoted, there is so much more that could be done when the United States and China are working, if not together but at least in tandem, in the same direction,” Akram said.

“If multilateralism does imbue the policies of the Biden ministration, this would lead to some reduction in tensions, resumption in cooperation at the international level, and I think that would be good for everybody in the world.”