EDITORIAL: The question whether the war in Ukraine initiated by Russia will end the way President Vladimir Putin wanted, has no easy answer. However, going by the developments on the battlefront and positions taken so far on it by Ukraine’s friends and foes, it is quite likely to end reasserting the status quo.
Most likely reason for this is the pro-Ukraine European Union’s abiding concern that should not lead to a wider war and the United States’ seemingly ambivalent stance on the Russian invasion. In his first State of Union address, President Joe Biden, for example, did condemn President Putin’s “tyranny”, but said in so many words that his country would not send troops to Ukraine. Earlier, President Putin, too, had threatened deployment of nuclear weapons, while only a month or so Moscow had stated its mind on the platform of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) that a “nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought,” saying possession of nuclear weapons by them has acted as deterrence against war.
Citing angry reaction of Nato leaders to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and barrage of economic sanctions imposed by them, he said, “As you see, not only do Western countries take unfriendly measures against our country … but also the top officials of leading Nato countries allow themselves to make aggressive statements with regard to our country”. He had also warned that any hindrance would carry “consequences that you have never encountered in your history”. Washington reacted softy, only warning against “miscalculation”, which stands for accidental war.
To Pakistan’s utter predicament Prime Minister Imran Khan accompanied by eight cabinet colleagues, was in Moscow as the latter’s forces were entering Ukraine. He got a warm welcome, but as the situation on the ground dictated, the two sides did not sign any agreement or MoU. Quite expectedly, many in Pakistan questioned the timing of prime minister’s visit.
Of course the prime minister’s visit was in line with Pakistan’s emerging national security demands as they call for regional connectivity. But that argument apparently doesn’t sit well with the EU envoys in Islamabad. In a statement issued to media they have urged Pakistan to condemn Russia’s armed hostility against Ukraine in the ongoing UN General Assembly session. But Pakistan doesn’t want to get involved in this imbroglio, and rightly so. One would like to know have if their counterparts in India and the UAE, who abstained from voting in the UN Security Council meeting as they did not want to be party to the Ukraine crisis. Pakistan cannot afford to be a party to a conflict which has its roots in clash of economic and strategic interests between Russia and the US-led West.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022
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