New age diplomacy

There will be those who wonder why it is that Australian Foreign Minister Julie Bishop paid Pakistan a visit for two days. Australia is far away, not a major trading partner and seemingly at the far extremity of our orbital system. It would be a mistake to think so because the two countries share several interests, and those interests are currently convergent. Australia has a rising concern regarding drug and human smuggling from the countries of this region, as well as efforts to counter militancy and terrorism, both international and home-grown. Terrorism is a global phenomenon and Australia is not protected by its remoteness any more. Terrorists are highly mobile, increasingly sophisticated in their methodologies as well as diverse as the pool of terrorists divides and sub-divides endlessly — a constantly shifting target. Australia is to host a counterterrorism conference in June, and it would be appropriate for Pakistan to be represented.

Internal and external threats aside, Ms Bishop did not come empty-handed and a package of $24 million — $10 million of which is to help defray the costs of repatriating people displaced by Operation Zarb-e-Azb — is welcome. The rest of the money will help to restore flood-damaged infrastructure and support a World Bank trade initiative. Small as this is in comparison with other aid packages that Pakistan receives, it is nonetheless significant. The geopolitical tectonic plates in South Asia are shifting. Players that were ‘middle distance’ are now front and centre, and others recede as the likes of China muscle to the forefront. Australia will be aware of local developments and will be interested in how things play out between Pakistan and India for instance. Ms Bishop declared Australian neutrality on the Kashmir issue, saying that it must be resolved bilaterally. There will be opportunities for enhanced trade ties as well as intelligence-sharing. Distant Australia may be, irrelevant it is not, and the wheels of diplomacy always benefit from timely maintenance.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th,  2015.

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