Just another visit

Making this trip sound as if something groundbreaking will come out of it just puts Nawaz under unnecessary pressure.


Shahzeb Shaikha October 25, 2013
The writer has a master’s degree in Security and Intelligence Studies from the University of Pittsburgh. He works on the Peshawar desk of The Express Tribune

As much as Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to the United States (US) is being played up by the Pakistani media, the US media remained quite apathetic to his visit. Pakistan was non-existent on daily news cycles and in US newspapers.

Local media also keeps on spinning this visit as if it was a negotiation between the two heads of state. This wasn’t a face-saving official visit. It’s the first time Nawaz officially met US President Barack Obama and both leaders got a chance to get acquainted with each other.

Making this trip sound as if something groundbreaking will come out of it just puts Nawaz under unnecessary pressure, considering the new prime minister remains indecisive over key policy issues, especially counterterrorism. It has been four months since the new administration took charge, but there hasn’t been any formal policy announcement on how to tackle terrorism except for the meaningless charade of all-parties conferences (APCs).

Instead, drone strikes have been illogically tied to terrorism when there isn’t empirical evidence to suggest this. In fact, evidence points to the contrary, considering the number of drone strikes against the number of terror attacks, particularly suicide ones. Blaming terrorism on drone strikes helps policymakers off the hook for their own shortcomings on successfully forming a policy or taking even an initiative.

In his speech at the United States Institute of Peace, Nawaz said the nation had formed a consensus through APCs to give peace a chance. It’s hard to rule out that the Americans would not have grilled Nawaz about the specifics of the negotiations he is planning on pursuing with the Pakistani Taliban. And this would’ve caught the prime minister off-guard because he probably doesn’t know who his administration will talk to or negotiate peace with.

Pakistani policymakers must realise that our bilateral relationship with the US is down the tubes. Resuming strategic dialogues and promises of releasing aid are just attempts at sugar-coating hollow ties. The new government keeps chasing an unreachable objective of convincing the US government to bring to an end drone strikes — the most precise lethal counterterrorism tool in its fight against terrorists which denies them safe haven in inaccessible regions.

The US is mostly concerned on domestic issues, particularly the new healthcare reforms pushed through by Obama. During Nawaz’s visit, all American newscasters and media outlets were discussing The Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare’s malfunctioning website. Nawaz was nowhere in the picture and neither was Afghanistan and its future.

Unless Pakistan tackles non-state actors acting with impunity from its territory, drone strikes must and will continue. Our non-seriousness towards counterterrorism has allowed others to intervene and clean up our house, which then violates our sovereignty. The issue will not settle down on its own somehow.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2013.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.

COMMENTS (9)

Ajay | 10 years ago | Reply

@csmann: It would have made more sense had Sharif inquired from Obama his reasons for continuing with drone strategy and explored alternatives and provide his own suggestion of meeting Obama's objectives in alternate ways.. It would have made sense if Sharif instead of asking for US intervention in Kashmir would have inquired into US thinking on Kashmir (as if that is not already known) and avoided seeking its intervention when it is not interested. Pakistan should take Kashmir issue to UN, if it so wishes. I see this trip as a a total failure. The reason Nawaz did not get a state dinner was because like someone said this was all about giving a report card to the 'parent' and 'parent' allocating time to 'talk to' a 'problem child'.

Hmmm | 10 years ago | Reply

Well, from my understanding your arguments are a bit muddled, though reasonable, your approach to drone strikes should not focus on the effects of drones on terrorism and vice versa, rather it should be based off sovereignty and general principles of Int'l Law that condemn such unilateral uses of force. As well, you are better off keeping those responsible for terrorism under the guise of 'non-state actors', to use the term terrorism or terrorists makes the matter more complicated from the perspective of whether it is legal or illegal for the United States to continue drone strikes in the absence of Pakistani consent.

W.r.t to the last paragraph, have you considered drone strikes as an impediment to the Pak people and army's ability to combat these non-state actors ? If there were no drone strikes maybe there would be a greater desire on behalf of the Pak government and army to act, and maybe, if an innocent's family had not mistakenly perished from a drone attack he (and others like him/her) would not join the Madrassas and wage war against the west, putting us at a disadvantage.

VIEW MORE COMMENTS
Replying to X

Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.

For more information, please see our Comments FAQ