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Pakistan Ditching China?
The new Pakistani government is not thrilled about the country’s longtime ally, China. Prime Minister Gilani has decided to downgrade Pakistani representation in this week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit. And our ambassador in Washington, a known ‘American enthusiast’, has given verbal instructions to Pakistani Foreign Office to lessen its fixation on China and focus more on India. His government undermined Pakistani participation in Beijing Olympics twice in the last four months. And we are still without a Pakistani ambassador in Beijing while our London and Washington embassies are run by strong supporters of Washington and London.
By AHMED QURAISHI
Tuesday, 26 August 2008.
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan—This is the first time that Pakistan does not have an ambassador in Beijing for several months now, which is an oddity. Washington and London were the first capitals where the Gilani government appointed ambassadors. That is supposedly understandable. The current government in Pakistan was possible only because of a political understanding – widely referred to in Islamabad as a ‘deal – which both capitals brokered with a weak and fading Mr. Musharraf.
But how China has slipped from the list of priorities of the Gilani government can be gauged from our expected participation this week in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit on Aug. 28. This is a Chinese and Russian dominated organization seen as a counterweight to U.S. influence in our region. In this first major foreign policy engagement for this government involving China, no senior politician from the Gilani administration will be representing Pakistan. Prime Minister Gilani has decided that, due to our pressing internal political situation, the advisor to the prime minister for national security – a former ambassador to Washington – will instead represent Islamabad. This will be the lowest Pakistani participation in SCO since its formation in 2001. It is true that Pakistan is still not a full member of the SCO. But Beijing is strongly advocating full membership for Islamabad and Moscow is more favorably inclined to go along than at any other time, putting aside Indian sensitivities.
Given how we are suffering from Washington’s destabilizing influence in our neighborhood, you would think we would have shown more enthusiasm for this week’s SCO summit. But this is not the case. What is interesting is that this attitude comes at the heel of several events in the past four months that have generated some concern among Pakistani Sinologists. This is a concern that has not turned to panic, not yet at least.
A couple of months ago, Dr. Shireen Mazari, a former head of a think tank funded by our Foreign Office, reported that our top diplomats received verbal ‘guidance’ from a well known Washington-based figure in the Gilani government to stop focusing too much on China and start a new policy of engagement with countries such as India and the United States. This could be a personal opinion or a general policy observation, and all elected governments have the right to review policies. But in China’s case, we have accumulated several bad examples recently that the subject merits a special discussion.
In April, a fresh Prime Minister Gilani refused to attend the Olympic Torch Relay ceremony as the torch passed through Islamabad on the pretext that President Musharraf was also attending.
Considering how western members of the International Olympic Committee refused to include Pakistan in the torch route and how Beijing stuck to Islamabad, the Apr. 16 incident in the Pakistani capital was certainly a ghastly show of lopsided priorities.
And then on Aug. 8, Pakistan’s participation at the level of President in China’s most important event of the century was scuttled because of Pakistani politics. You can be certain that our Chinese friends were not very impressed when we sent to Beijing a prime minister widely seen as ‘remote-controlled’ – as opposed to a ‘puppet’ – along with the teenage chairman of the ruling party. It didn’t quite give the impression that we attached a lot of importance to an important event for China. Overall, it would be an understatement to say that this has not been a good year so far for Sino-Pakistani ties.
The principals of the Gilani government must excuse the skeptics when things like this happen. After all, the government has shown a lot of enthusiasm in focusing on ties with the United States. Washington was the first real foreign engagement for Prime Minister Gilani. You can discount the Saudi visit. That was limited to a one-point agenda: Cheap oil. Certainly the government has shown a lot of interest in hiring the services of an ‘American enthusiast’ to be our ambassador in Washington, followed by appointing the last serving ambassador there as the new national security advisor to the prime minister.
This is a government tinged with a heavy American dose. That is fine since this is an important relationship for Islamabad. But in the process, China should not be sidelined.
Moakhza
1 Million Dollar ki Baistee
Awami Muslim League
Sajjad Ahmad
July 20, 2008
Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad had announced his resignation from PML Q and announces his own party named “Awami Muslim League” in press conference today in Rawalpindi. He said that he is not looking the government playing a long inning and so he decided not to take part in the by elections.
Shaikh Rasheed, usually call himself a self made person, had faced the defeat in the last general elections and was quick to mark this defeat as the defeat to the party not to him! While taking his decision of retirement from politics back, he announced to make his own political party. He continuously and seriously hit hard on the political parties for not giving the way to the people like him to become a national leaders and thus trying to stop the way of those, who, he believes are the true and best representative of the people. Additionally, he also argued that his new party will change the political atmosphere of the country and will turn the current political system to its right direction.
Taking in view the saying of Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad, it is more acceptable and less illogical what he intend to say. Majority of the concerns raised by Shaikh Rasheed Ahmad are true. Such as middle class politicians are not allowed to come up in the list of leaders. As we all know that the majority of the leading politicians are bringing their sons and daughters to maintain their hold over politics and transferring the leaderships of their parties to the children, in the way that these are not the parties but the personal wealth of these leaders, which they are distributing to their children, before they get retired from the politics or died or get killed by each other. Benazir inherited the political property of her father and refused to give the legal share of this wealth to the rest of her brothers and sisters. As a result, there was never a good relationship between her and Murtaza Bhutto. And the assassination of Murtaza Bhutto, happened during her own rule, and was linked to Zardari, her husband. And she made sure that this wealth will be transferred to her son, even before her death. So the third generation of the Bhutto family the country will be facing in the next couple of decades. Read the rest of this entry »
Welcome To PPP Democracy – Jiyala Jamhuriyat!
By COL. RIAZ JAFRI (RETD.)
Monday, 23 June 2008.
RAWALPINDI, Pakistan—Liaqat Bagh to be renamed Benazir Bhutto Bagh, Murree Road to be renamed Benazir Bhutto Road, 27 December to be declared official holiday after Benazir Bhutto’s death anniversary, Lahore to be turned into Larkana, Presidency to be taken over by a PPP worker, the Prime Minister commutes all death sentences to life imprisonment as Benazir Bhutto’s birthday gift to the nation (read ‘gift to murderers’). All this, of course, without any authority.
The Co-Chairperson – not even an Member of National Assembly – being given full protocol and allowed the use of bullet proof SUV with tainted glasses (who says it violates the law?); the construction of Tarbela Dam abandoned at the whims of someone, anyone, without even being discussed in the Parliament, PM announcing publicly without any hesitation to restore the judges immediately on receipt of orders from Zardari (what a Prime Minister!), PM performing Umra with 80 plus guests and hangers-on, of course at your and my expense; and then BB death probe by U.N. – at what colossal costs and with what outcome – anybody’s guess, et al.
What is all this? Is it the democracy or the government of a person, for a person, by a person? Where is the Parliament, which unlike the previous ones is claimed not to be a rubber stamp? Are these acts democratic in nature and spirit? Or, is the present democracy yet another facet of the maadar pidar azaad Jiala jamhuriat? Jo jee mein aye karo, yahaan kaun poochhaney wala hai ?!!
Col. Riaz Jafri (Retd) is based in Rawalpindi. His commentary is appears frequently in several national Pakistani dailies. He can be reached at jafri@rifiela.com
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