Foreign policy options

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar's foreign policy statement on Thursday following her visit to London was expected to be a usual affair. And her rather longish stay in Britain and then breaking journey at Dubai to watch cricket was again not much different from routine. But it was American counterpart Hillary Clinton's 'threat' of teaching a lesson to Pakistan should it continue to pursue its IP gas pipeline project and Khar's stiff riposte that tends to suggest that our relationship with the United States has arrived at the tipping point and that a game-changer shift in our foreign policy is about to begin. She has talked of options available to Pakistan to make up for the loss of warmth and bilateral comfort after Washington turns back on all what the people of Pakistan have suffered ever-since our leadership committed total and unrewarded co-operation in the so-called war on terrorism. Perhaps, Pakistan could still persevere in that patently flawed policy until early last year when the truism 'America would sell you if you are a friend and buy you if enemy' proved right. After the ghastly Lahore killings at the hands of CIA operative came the clandestine raid on Osama's compound and then the Salala checkposts incident. Now that Washington has warned Pakistan against accepting Iranian help in meeting its crippling energy shortages, its 'strategic' ally is furious. We do understand it is an election year in the United States the Obama administration has to sell a belligerent foreign policy to appease a responsive superpower vote bank. But to subject inter-state relationship to gains/losses considerations in a domestic political fray certainly exposes the shallowness of our so-called friendly ties with the United States. No quarrel with Secretary Clinton's oblique hint that a non-co-operative Islamabad may face sanctions identical to what Tehran is going through, because the American position essentially derives its strength from the United Nations' decisions. It is indeed a risk that Pakistan would be widening the scope of its relations with Iran. But is there an alternative? No Pakistan's foreign affairs have evolved over the decades under never-receding security challenges and would not significantly move out of it unless a paradigm shift takes place in the mindset of its eastern neighbour. However one thing is certain: in case Clinton-threatened sanctions take effect its victims would be the people of Pakistan as invariably is the case anywhere where the UN platform was used to deploy this weapon of aggression. Of course, such threats emanating from Washington adequately prove the bankruptcy of our foreign policy management. But, paradoxically, it also shines up the possibilities of striking new friendships, as the Khar's policy statement tends to suggest. For the future Islamabad has before three foreign policy options that can largely compensate, if not over-compensate, for the political and economic deficits in case it suffers American denials. First, there is the group of traditional, all-weather friends - China, Saudi Arabia and Turkey - whose ties with Pakistan remain unruffled by the winds of changes - be these in their policies or the Pakistani political scenario. In there, Islamabad has only to stay the course. The second option is to warm up the interaction with the European Union member-states which do have the economic wherewithal, quite a part of it being beyond American influence, and the recent steps taken by the EU to facilitate Pakistan foreign trade by providing it a level-playing field. Following her meetings with British officials, Foreign Minister Khar is quite optimistic about the possibility of expanded relations with the West that lies east of the Atlantic. The third option is to recalibrate and upgrade relations with the immediate neighbour - India, Iran and Afghanistan. In that area, of late, Pakistan has moved boldly. With Iran, the energy-centred co-operation has significantly enhanced - despite threats and in Kabul, Pakistan is more visible as a facilitator of Afghan national reconciliation. With India, the scope of trade and business has been considerably widened by according it MFN status. But one thing that Hina Khar made absolutely clear, and reflective of national will and psyche, that recalibration of Pakistan's foreign policy will be in keeping with the pristine principles of inter-state prelateships that its national interests, sovereignty and territorial integrity are fully recognised and respected. Copyright Business Recorder, 2012