Tough talk

The body language said it all. US Defence Secretary Chuck Hagel, on a brief visit to Pakistan intended to ease new strains in ties, was obviously in no mood to mince words as he met with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, warning him that Pakistan risked losing millions of dollars in aid if blockades preventing Nato convoys from moving over the Torkham crossing point were not removed. Since 2002, Pakistan has received $16 billion as security assistance and we all know an end to this would hurt our interests. Given Pakistan’s current economic situation, any money coming in acts as a vital lifeline; we cannot really do without it.



The warning that Secretary Hagel has now delivered in no uncertain terms had been coming for some time. Washington had indeed issued slightly more subtle warnings earlier, and it may indeed have been sensible to heed these. Certainly, the blockade by the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) has served no useful purpose at all, with the drone strikes it is protesting continuing. Secretary Hagel has simply driven home something we knew already: the blockade of convoys is hurting us, more than anyone else. Truck drivers, other staff aboard trucks and those who earned their livelihoods by providing services along the long route have already been hurt. A US aid cut-off would inflict far deeper wounds on the nation as a whole. Prime Minister Sharif has promised the US secretary that he will deal with the situation. To do so and prevent further damage, he must persuade Imran Khan to act sensibly.

This may not prove an easy task. The PTI leadership has not always listened to reason. In this situation, the legal position, too, becomes relevant, with highways running through Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa, legally speaking, falling under the control of the federal government. This having been said, we must hope a stand-off can be avoided. The PTI needs to recognise that the situation it has created is simply hurting Pakistan. The US has made it clear that it has other options. Pakistan has very few and this is something that now needs to be taken up. The blockade has gone well beyond a joke.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 11^th, 2013.

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