Pak-Italy collaboration
The writer is a retired UN staff based in Rome. He has degrees in economics from LSE and Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar; and a degree in Environmental Management from Imperial College London
Discussions regarding Pakistan and its development partners are largely centered on our collaboration with the International Financing Institutions, and some of the big and influential donors such as the United States. However, there is little in the popular press about one of our important and longstanding partners – Italy.
The best-known example of our decades-old collaboration with Italy relates to the conquest of K-2 in 1954. The second highest mountain in the world, K-2 is is technically one of the most difficult to climb. Many fatalities that occurred during various attempts – almost a hundred so far – have resulted in it being given the epitaph of the Savage Mountain.
The Italians made an unsuccessful attempt early in the last century led by the Duke of Abruzzi, but it was not until 1954 that a team led by Ardesio Desio made it to the top. The team included a Pakistani member, Colonel Muhammad Ata-ullah and a Pakistani porter Amir Mehdi from Hunza. Since then, Italians have maintained a strong connection with K-2, also featuring the 1983 expedition, led by Francesco Santon, that reached the summit via the North Ridge.
Italian involvement with the mountains of Pakistan is not limited to scaling the highest peaks. In the 1980s, Desio partnered with climber Agostino Da Polenza (Tamgha-e-Pakistan) to establish EvK2CNR, which pioneered high-altitude research across the Himalayas and Karakorum. Through EvK2CNR and in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme, Pakistani universities and research institutions, pioneering studies on glaciers were launched. This included the country's most detailed glacier inventory, documenting 13,032 glaciers. Using satellites, remote sensing and ground surveys, Italian scientists produced geo-tagged inventories and glacier melt models - tools essential for understanding the behaviour of a critical source of the nation's water supplies. The Italians were also instrumental in the establishment of the Central Karakoram National Park, the highest national park in the world and the largest protected area in Pakistan.
Italians have also been at the forefront of olive oil production in Pakistan identifying and testing varieties suitable to Pakistani conditions and starting the first plantations. Today olives are grown on thousands of hectares. These plantations not only provide oil to consumers but are also an important part of Pakistan's strategy to adapt to climate change as they can survive in harsh semi-arid conditions. Italian collaboration continues to this day and ongoing efforts focus on processing, quality control and marketing.
Italian archeologists have also done pioneering work in excavating and restoring various sites in Pakistan including in the Swat Valley, on the Ghandhara sites and in Bhambore. These archeologists not only supervised the excavation but were also instrumental in training Pakistanis in techniques of classification and stratigraphy.
Tarbela Dam is the largest earth and rock filled dam in the world and an essential infrastructure for the country, particularly for agriculture, flood control and power generation. Its construction was completed in 1976 by 15,000 Pakistani and international workers, led by an Italian company – Salini Impregilo S.p.A which officially changed its name to Webuild S.p.A. in May 2020.
There are about 150,000 Pakistanis working legally in Italy, with many more working without proper documents. It is the largest Pakistani community in continental Europe. For several years, Italy has seen a rapid fall in birth rates, and immigrant workers are filling a massive and growing gap in the Italian economy, particularly for unskilled jobs in agriculture, industry, services and in the gig-economy.
For quite a few years, Italy has also been trying to attract skilled and talented Pakistanis. One way it has been doing this is by offering scholarships, particularly for Master's and Doctoral degrees. Living and studying in Italy for a few years gives these students a chance to familiarise themselves with the local culture and, in particular, with the language. This, along with the skills acquired and the strong work ethic of Pakistanis, makes them very attractive for the Italian job market.
But collaboration between the countries is not only about government to government relations but also about relations between common people.
A little known story about Italo-Pakistani collaboration dates back to the Second World War. In 1942, German troops overran the third Indian Motor Brigade in North Africa and several Indian officers were taken prisoners and held at a PoW camp near Naples. The captured officers included Captain AM Yahya Khan, Lieutenant Tikka Khan and Lieutenant Sahibzada Yaqub Khan – all of whom subsequently rose to the highest positions in Pakistan. Yahya Khan became army chief and then president (1966-71), Tikka Khan succeeded him as army chief (1972-76) and Sahibzada Yaqub Khan became Pakistan's foreign minister.
The most touching part of the story is that some of these officers, including Yayha Khan and Sahibzada Yaqub Khan, escaped from the prison camp. For weeks they wandered around the forests and countryside in southern Italy where Italian peasant families gave them food and shelter. When Yaqub Khan, as foreign minister of Pakistan, visited Italy, he made a point of meeting the family that had sheltered him and his fellow officers during the war.