The British Prime Minister David Cameroon, choose the wrong audience, wrong time and wrong proof to castigate Pakistan in later’s efforts against terrorists and terrorism. Mr. Cameron may have been over charged by the prospects of leveraging its position against Pakistan to seek future business prospects with India. However, a caution must be observed while delivering sweeping statements. International diplomacy requires that certain norms must be respected while addressing a third nation.
The British past glory is an obsolete history now. The fact of the matter is that it is just another tiny island floating in Atlantics and rest of the mainland Europe is trying to keep it as far on the other side of English Channel as possible. UK mired by its complex demographic factors, which also highlights the British adventurism in the past, is not in a position anymore to dictate sovereign nations as per the cravings of its past nostalgia. However, this is certainly not to belittle UK in its entirety but it is also important to put the things in their right perspective.
We are certainly critical of Pakistan’s role in the past, but that is not a fact anymore. With the elected government in place which has achieved consensus against the the extremist elements and waged a war that is practically shaking the whole edifice of extremism. Pakistan also understands that it is no longer obliged by the adventurism of the UK’s home grown terrorists to serve as catalyst for its action against the terrorists at home. Extremism is rust which is eroding the foundations of Pakistan and certainly a vast majority of the public understands that. So pushing Pakistan by giving pious sermons by a foreign dignitary in a hostile territory can serve no purpose but to create a bad taste.
Any such statement is counter productive owing to the fact that it rejuvenates the feelings of nationalism. Nationalism in the times of peace is a good thing however a country at war within itself, the nationalism doesn’t help. The whole attention of general public goes out of borders and the feelings of hostility find a new punching bag, which eventually gives another life-line to the terrorists who also join the chorus. And the extremist apologists get more potency in their rhetoric against the West and they make general Pakistani to believe that their government is the friend of ‘real’ enemy.
The move to win hearts and minds cannot be carried on this way. David Cameron’s political expediency is understandable and also his rightist approach but by issuing such statements he is simply undoing all the efforts so far his predecessors have done to create soft corner in the heart of general Pakistani about the UK and the West. In this respect Mr. Cameron must learn some diplomacy lessons from its ally across the Atlantic, the US, whose foreign minister is setting an example guide of a successful foreign policy with Pakistan, whom Western press regards as a difficult ally. She engages herself with the common man during her trips to Pakistan and is open to admitting the past wrong-doings of US in case of Pakistan. Of course detractors are still open to the criticism however inertly Pakistani’s feel more comfortable with a mix of her frank and formal remarks. These are the ways of passing on the right message and also not offending an already difficult audience.
Wiki-leaks, its timing and consequences requires a more detailed analysis which I would do sometime later as more facts unfold. But again Mr. Cameron had no right to formulate his warnings to Pakistan on the un-authentic and seemingly a multi-faceted intelligence reports.
I expect from you a rational analysis of things not an emotional or nationalistic analysis as some other columnist tend to do. May be some body needed a distraction from wikileaks or some other agenda like attention of media before presidents visit. In urdu they say “Woo baat jis kaa zikar naa thaa sarey afsaney main…” You wrote a whole blog on that…
Quoting you ..
“But again Mr. Cameron had no right to formulate his warnings to Pakistan on the un-authentic and seemingly a multi-faceted intelligence ”
Mr Cameron’s Word and the Question and Answer he gave:
Of course, when it comes to protecting our people, we cannot overlook what is happening in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Let me state clearly: your relations with those two countries are a matter for you and you alone. But let me also say we, like you, want a Pakistan that is stable, democratic and free from terror. We, like you, want an Afghanistan that is secure, free from interference from its neighbours and not a threat to our security. We, like you, are determined that groups like the Taliban, the Haqqani network or Lakshar e Taiba should not be allowed to launch attacks on Indian and British citizens in India or in Britain. Neither should they be able to do so against our people, whether soldiers or civilians, from both our countries who are working for peace in Afghanistan. Our interests are your interests, so let us work together to realise them.
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Question
You said Pakistan is going to be an important discussion that you are going to have with the Prime Minister of India, but the kind of leakage of funds that the US and the UK have been giving to Pakistan in the last couple of years has now exposed that we need to rethink the strategy with Pakistan. Is that going to be a discussion that you will be having with the Prime Minister as well?
Prime Minister
That is absolutely a discussion that I will have with Dr Manmohan Singh, and it is also a discussion I had last week with President Obama, and also had meetings in the Pentagon to discuss this point, which is that we should be very clear with Pakistan that we want to see a strong and a stable and a democratic Pakistan, but we cannot tolerate in any sense the idea that this country is allowed to look both ways and is able in any way to promote the export of terror, whether to India or whether to Afghanistan, or anywhere else in the world. That’s why this relationship is important, but it should be a relationship based on a very clear message that it is not right, as I said in my speech, to have any relationship with groups that are promoting terror. Democratic states that want to be part of the developed world cannot do that, and the message to Pakistan from the US and from the UK is very clear on that point.
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Hope you don’t mind my blunt remarks as I am not a diplomate anyway…:)
Comment by AQ Khan — July 30, 2010 @ 9:39 pm