Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif with US President Barack Obama. PHOTO: REUTERS
ISLAMABAD:
Opposition leader in the National Assembly Syed Khursheed Shah has said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif failed to cash in on the opportunity of the superpower’s dependency on Islamabad for a safe exit from Afghanistan next year during his Washington trip.
“We should not have pinned such high hopes on the premier’s visit, as not a single demand was materialised during Nawaz’s maiden trip to Washington,” Shah said while talking to The Express Tribune on Friday.
He said that the prime minster had left for the US with a long wish list, but he could not press the Obama administration to approve a single demand including the release of Dr Aafia Siddiqui, stopping of drones or any financial favour.
“Nawaz had good cards to play, particularly the US dependency on Pakistan during the exit of its forces from Afghanistan in 2014. This card was not played in an effective and efficient manner,” said Shah.
Commenting on the willingness of the US to release $1.6 billion aid, the opposition leader said it was part of the assistance package which had been approved by the US administration under the Kerry-Lugar Bill. “This is not a new financial programme and it was fiercely opposed by the PML-N in the past,” he said. According to Shah, this is 80 per cent military and only 20 per cent civilian aid.
“We should stop dependence on foreign countries. We are the seventh superpower in the world and should be self-sufficient and self-reliant,” he maintained.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 26th, 2013.
COMMENTS (35)
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@Indi.pendent: "Failed state is a coined term by the west devoid of any index and supporting data, it is a sham and farce term devoid of any logic".
Well, the setting up of the index, collation of data and use of logic is all happening in Pakistan. By the time the study is finished, the world will have validated data, indices, logic Et Al.
@Gaurav:
India rank 9th in nominal GDP, but it ranks lower than Britain and Italy which have a population of 63 million and 61 million respectively(India population being 1240 million, or 1.24 billion) And its per capita GDP, which measures the living standard is nowhere near the above mentioned countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ListofcountriesbyGDP_%28nominal%29
@Alann Thanks for the information
@Indipendent Sorry your statement based on GDP per capita is meaningless because dividing overall GDP of Pakistan with 180 million population and then dividing India's GDP with 1000 million population would obviously give inaccurate picture , one cannot say that India and Pakistan are same in terms of economic progress just because per capita figures are same. By your interpretation many smaller countries Qatar, Luxembourg ,Singapore ,Norway , Brunei are producing very high which is totally wrong.
@Superpower: Failed state is a coined term by the west devoid of any index and supporting data, it is a sham and farce term devoid of any logic, war torn Iraq, once a prosperous country is placed in the list and forget the number 13th. India is ranked number one, read number one and no nation on earth even comes closer to her in terms of number of poor in the world. India has got more poor people than all the sub Sahara countries combined together. Here is a TOI report.
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2013-04-19/india/386730881extreme-poverty-poverty-line-jim-yong-kim
http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2010-07-15/india/282818061child-mortality-nutrition-human-development-initiative
68% of India's population lives below poverty line, if 2 dollar per day is taken as a benchmark. 32.67% of the population lives below poverty line if 1.25 dollar is taken as the bare minimum. Nothing to be very proud of, unless there is an air of superficial superiority. The figures given below confirms this. Pakistan ranks much better
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Listofcountriesbypercentageofpopulationlivingin_poverty
@Alann: GDP per capita for Pakistan seems to be at $3,876 (PPP; 2012) and for India it is $3,829 (PPP: 2012), ( taken from Wikipedia). Going neck to neck.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EconomyofIndia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EconomyofPakistan
Close behind Clausewitz as a strategist, is our Mr Shah. If we just stop laughing long enough to let him finish, he'll be No.1!
@Gaurav: "In terms of GDP India is ranked 10th and Pakistan is 44th. GDP is real indicator of progress a country has made. China is 2nd in terms of GDP after US and EU"
Small correction: Its not GDP, but PPP which is the real indicator of a country's progress. And as per PPP, India is already the 3rd biggest economy in the world (if you don't take into account European Union as a whole). And growing. Whereas Pakistan ranks 26th, but falling downwards on the rankings.
Yes indeed Pakistan is a superpower; NS was wearing identical colored tie as Obama!
Does the gentleman even know the meaning of superpower? Also did PM Nawaz Sharif have any cards at all, given Pakistan's hand-to-mouth existence when it comes to foreign reserves? The US can surely afford to pay additional $8-10 bn to extracate their equipment via the northern distribution network, but does Pakistan have what it takes to then bear US ire? No offense meant, but I am sure that the gentleman who is speaking doesn't have the capacity to either analyse or comprehend such questions.
@Alann: Thanks. i could not stop smiling.
“We should stop dependence on foreign countries. We are the seventh superpower in the world and should be self-sufficient and self-reliant,”
I think Pakistani filmmakers will soon have to come out with a new film that will show Pakistan as a superpower. It is the only way to be a superpower, just like the only way Pakistan Army managed to win a war: inside a movie named Waar. I would suggest making movies on Indus Water Treaty aswell, depicting how RAW agents disguised as Talibanis are stealing away Pakistan's water using lots of bottles in Kashmir. Lets revive Lollywood! Jokes aside, on a serious note, all I can say is....sorry can't say anything; its too funny! Pakistani politicians have been ridiculously hilarious for ages. There is a Rehman Malik hidden within almost every citizen of Pakistan. I suggest Syed Khursheed Shah, as the opposition leader of the National Assembly, to do what he does best: pass a resolution condemning Nawaz Sharif's US tour!
Sounds grand - so exactly what should he have received? Sharif got $1.6 Billion and some favorable press - both desperately needed by Pakistan. I should also point out that the last time Pakistan tried to blackmail the USA over the NATO supply route it didn't turn out well for Pakistan. That attempted extortion tarnished Pakistan's international reputation and the USA didn't pay the blackmail, didn't make the abject apology demanded, but did withhold the aid that Sharif just got released. Chest thumping maybe popular in Pakistan but it has rarely achieved anything.
Is the 7th superpower have to stand themselve only with the aid of US !
@Superpower: Woah..some company..Birds of the same feather flock together....Cheers!!!
Sorry Afghanistan is 7th . Pakistan is 13th
The top 20 states on the 2013 Failed States Index is shown below. 1.Somalia 2.Democratic Republic of the Congo 3.Sudan 4.South Sudan (Newly ranked) 5.Chad 6.Yemen 7.Afghanistan 8.Haiti 9.Central African Republic 10.Zimbabwe 11.Iraq 12 .Ivory Coast 13.Pakistan 14.Guinea 15.Guinea-Bissau 16.Nigeria 17.Kenya 18.Niger 19.Ethiopia 20.Burundi
In terms of GDP India is ranked 10th and Pakistan is 44th. GDP is real indicator of progress a country has made. China is 2nd in terms of GDP after US and EU
The fact this is coming from a PPP-Z person makes it all the more laughable.
So now we know it is all a card game. The cards were stacked against Nawaz. But why does he want to play, when he has no Aces and Voids.
Pakistan is at 7th position in the list of Most corrupted politicians owned countries and politicians called themselves " superpower".i know what it means to be a superpower country in terms of nuke. Having ability of mass destruction . But we are superdooper power country with owing these politïcians .
pakistan has 7 th strongest military.... but i dont think that makes it 7 th superpower in the world....
The 7th Super Power ...................... +++++++++++++++++++++++++++ caught hosting OBL for a decade...........:)
The 7th Super Power is begging US every day to halt drone attacks +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Some Super bluffs.............
The 7th Super
Mr. Shah should have known that pakistan has overplayed that transit card and has always failed. This time their blakmailing of giving overland transit to withdrawing US forces backfired and forced US to leave military hardware worth 7 billion dollars for Afghan Army instead of taking them via Pakistan.
LOL!. So who is imitating who. Hate it when people match dresses :)
seventh superpower????no we are the first......
Seventh Super Power of The World ! ! ! ! ! ! ! I can safely declare it Joke of the Day, though its still early in the morning.
Pakistan 7th superpower ?? Lol ... How can failed state be 7th superpower?
"We are the seventh superpower in the world"
What does that mean? Does that even mean anything? Pakistan is not a super power.
The PPP has not yet learnt to practice what it preaches. What did the PPP do in five years of their wasted rule? Nothing. Out of nothing comes nothing. Salams
"We are the seventh superpower in the world", that was hilarious. Who is WE? It was in 2004, Mirza Afzal Beg had addressed University of Peshawar by declaring that Muslims will become world's 7th superpower by 2024.
HAHAHA "We are the seventh super-power in the world"??? By whose count, I wonder? Some "super-power", can't even keep the lights on, but can surrender the country to the TTP on THEIR TERMS!