No takers for Sheikh Rashid’s walkout

Throughout its five-year rule, the previous PPP-led government miserably failed to deliver on many counts. But it did succeed to instill this illusion among “public representatives” that only they should furnish “guidelines” for the State of Pakistan in dealing with foreign countries and articulate the stance on various global affairs. 

The farcical sides of this illusion were indeed exposed to mortals like you and I when the former finance minister, Dr Hafiz Sheikh, was assigned the task of building bridges with the US at the end of a seven-month old denial of Pakistani routes to Afghanistan for supplying weapons etc to NATO forces.

Over and above the foreign office, and contemptuously disregarding “guidelines” that the so-called parliamentary committee on national security had set for re-engaging the Americans, Hafeez Sheikh eventually prepared a document that extracted a mild “sorry” from Ms Clinton over the Salala incident before restoration of payments connected to coalition support.

One sincerely believed that the said development might have acted like a rude wake up call to “our representatives” and they were finally reconciled to their limits. Habits take time to die, however, and Sheikh Rashid Ahmad sounded too alone and almost comical while deliriously pressing and pushing the government Monday evening to tell “this elected house whether a military operation” had been formally launched in North Waziristan.

No minister cared to take him seriously. The opposition remained indifferent to his agitated stare of mind as well. Sheikh Sahib even failed to motivate the youthful backbenchers of the PTI for joining him in putting tough questions on North Waziristan.

Shah Mehmud Qureshi of the same party rather preferred to extend vigorous support to Syed Khursheed Shah, cribbing and moaning on an entirely different matter.

Although an experienced parliamentarian and an accomplished manipulator of backroom deals, the opposition leader in the national assembly, seldom speaks when it comes to things strategic and foreign policy related. Monday evening he seemed behaving differently while ominously forewarning the government regarding “explosive blow back of a massive foreign policy shift that the Prime Minister has made on Syria without taking anyone on board.”

Pakistan, he kept stressing, had been studiously maintaining a low and indifferent looking stance regarding the civil war like scene in Syria. Being an active member-state of the United Nations, it had rather voted against the idea of regime change in that country with the help of international, read the US-led, forces.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, the Shah from Sukkur went on, “has now decided to join the Saudi-led campaign to topple Bashar al Assad.” He seemed doubly upset after finding out that instead of merely supporting the anti-regime cause on moral grouds, Pakistan had also decided to provide anti tank and helicopter weapons and missiles to Syrian rebels and Saudi Arabia would pay the bill. Apparently, the alleged arming and training of the Syrian rebels did not worry the opposition leader per se. For him far more frightening was the possibility that the arms, ostensibly sent to anti-regime fighters of Syria, could “end up in the hands of al Qaeda cadres.”

Shah Mehmud Qureshi shared his concern, pretty aggressively, and kept on recalling that Pakistan already seemed stuck in a deadly mess these days, primarily due to its role in Afghan Jihad of the 1980s. “Why get actively involved in another crisis which has every potential of throwing deadly blowbacks?” he kept wondering with dramatic pauses.

Zahid Hamid, a minister who often acts dealing with parliamentary business for Nawaz Sharif, behaved visibly casual in trying to calm the panic-vending thoughts of Shah and Qureshi. His brief statement clearly implied as if the government of Pakistan had yet not taken any position on Syria. The federal cabinet is set to meet Tuesday and during its meeting, issues related to Syria would also be discussed threadbare. Both the opposition leader and Shah Mehmud Qureshi preferred trusting him and this exposed the true worth of their rhetorical questions regarding Syria.

Until the eruption of Raymond Davis incident in the early 2011, Shah Mehmud Qureshi had been heading the ministry of foreign affairs in PPP-led coalition government of Yousaf Raza Gilani. While running that ministry, he always tried hard to promote the feeling of a hands-on boss about him. He needs no tutor for knowing that the states express their intent on any issue through formal communiqués and at the end of a recent visit of the Saudi Crown prince, Pakistan had duly endorsed the demand of regime change in Syria through the release of a joint statement. The decision on this issue, in short, had been made already, over and above the federal cabinet etc.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 25^th, 2014.