Was it a matter of egos? For some, perhaps it was. But was Pakistan justified in the way it handled the situation? Perhaps not. Indian Home Minister Rajnath Singh, on Thursday, left the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Interior Ministers’ meeting halfway through after an alleged war of words on the floor of the summit with his Pakistani counterpart, Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan. In a moment of rashness, Pakistan perhaps lost a great opportunity to initiate a bilateral talk with its eastern neighbour. Even in the last meeting of SAARC premiers in 2014, many agreements remained unsigned due to strained relations between Pakistan and India.
The SAARC summit presents a huge opportunity for the member states to discuss the issues affecting the region and devise strategies to tackle them. However, the summit in invariably overshadowed by issues between Pakistan and India.
The Indian home minister had indirectly accused Pakistan of sponsoring terrorism, also criticising Pakistan’s alleged support of terrorist elements in Kashmir. The statement of Singh on security challenges in the region amid the worsening situation in Kashmir was expected, and it was not much different from what India’s official stance is on other international forums. In the current scenario where Pakistan finds itself in strenuous relations with almost all its neighbours, the response from Pakistan should have been a measured one. Although Chaudhry Nisar’s response to his counterpart was also predicable, the choice of words could have been better, considering the hostile status quo between the two countries.
The visit of Rajanth Singh to Pakistan not only presented an opportunity to restart the halted dialogue process, but also a chance to address Pakistan’s apprehensions related to Kashmir. Being the home minister of India, Singh is in the best position to discuss the issues related to Kashmir and clarify India’s stance on Kashmir. If Pakistan wished to show its sincerity towards resolving the Kashmir issue, it should have tried to arrange one-on-one meetings between the Indian minister and his counterpart in Pakistan, as well as with Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. In a hardened response that could be attributed to inflated egos between the two countries, Pakistan seems to have squandered that chance.
Moreover, media blackout of the coverage of SAARC summit also created headlines across the border, and while it may be part of SAARC protocol not to cover the entire proceedings, the absence of press conferences after the summit raised questions to which there were not many satisfactory answers. This is a cooperation summit held among the eight member states to discuss regional issues of peace, security and trade, not a security advisors meeting where a full blackout could be justified.
Being the host country of a regional summit, Pakistan government’s attitude towards the guests should have been more courteous. Chaudhry Nisar, in a rather strange and inexplicable move, decided not to attend the luncheon arranged in honour of the participating ministers, citing previously-arranged engagements. In response to Pakistan’s interior minister’s absence, Indian home minister also decided to quit the luncheon. Such an attitude on the part of the country hosting a regional summit does not bide well with other member states.
Pakistan has a difficult relationship with almost all of its regional neighbour countries. In the west, the relations with Afghanistan and Iran have also deteriorated in recent times. Pakistan and Afghanistan trade accusations and not goods regularly. Moreover, Pakistan has not done much to improve its ties with Iran following the lifting of sanctions on the latter.
The only regional country that has good relations with Pakistan is China, but even those relations cannot be described as balanced or on equal terms.
Pakistan needs to learn from its mistakes from the past, and should be more cautious in future if it wishes to raise its voice on an international level. Pakistan cannot expect a positive response from the international community if it continues with such an immature attitude rather than addressing the core problems. Moreover, both Pakistan and India should realise that the SAARC summit is not only about them. There are six other stakeholders involved, and both the countries should respect their presence.
At home, in India, or at any regional or international platform, Pakistan should be prepared to have proper responses to India’s or any other country’s allegations of terrorism. And responses should be fact-based, comprehensive, articulate and satisfactory. Cooperation with all countries to eliminate terrorism is a promise Pakistan has made to its people and the global community, and that includes attention to all terror-related incidents in India, of which the blame is on Pakistan. Pakistan, like a dignified sovereign state that it is, should deal with allegations with pragmatism and solution-based responses, instead of indulging in gratuitous whataboutery and a counter-productive blame-game.
In order to reiterate its sincerity to the cause of Kashmiris’ indigenous movement for freedom, and to show its solidarity for the pain and sacrifices of Kashmiris, Pakistan should make its stance a principled one, a stance that is based on moral support of Kashmiris. There should not be any endorsement — covert or overt — of an armed struggle in Kashmir, as no conflict that takes place between two unevenly matched forces ever end on a note of positivity. Dialogue is the only way forward, and the SAARC summit could have been the starting point for that. Pakistan is vociferous in its condemnation of Indian forces’ violence on stone-pelting Kashmiris, and the issue is being raised by Pakistan on all available international platforms. Refusal to engage in a dialogue with the visiting home minister of the country Pakistan has multiple issues with is merely an exhibition of churlish petulance, which in the short and long term would only aggravate the situation between the two countries, and consequently, creating more despondency in the already bleak scenario of Kashmir.
Hostage crisis in Afghanistan
On Thursday evening, an Mi-17 chopper belonging to the Punjab government crash-landed in Azra, a remote district of Afghanistan’s Logar province. The chopper was on its way to Russia via Uzbekistan for maintenance purposes, and comprised of a six-member crew that included a Russian national and some retired military officials of the Pakistan army. Conflicting reports suggested that the crew was taken hostage by the local members of the Afghan Taliban, which was confirmed by Afghan government officials, including the Afghan Ambassador to Pakistan Dr Omar Zakhilwal.
Initially, Afghan Taliban’s chief spokesperson, Zabiullah Mujahid, could not verify the incident given the number of splinter Taliban factions, but he reconfirmed the news later when it was revealed that the kidnappers destroyed the chopper. Moreover, Chief of Army Staff General Raheel Sharif had contact with Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, and Commander of the Resolute Support Mission (RSM) in Afghanistan, General John Nicholson, for arranging measures regarding swift recovery of the hostages. Both dignitaries assured their cooperation on the matter.
Furthermore, it has been reported that diplomatic and military channels on both sides of the border have been activated to secure the hostages since important calls were made in Kabul. However, the best way to resolve the matter is to remain in touch with Taliban officials that are close to both Afghan and Pakistani governments. These officials can potentially convince the local leadership in Azra district to release the hostages given the nature of the incident. Since it is not clearly known regarding which splinter group held the crew hostage, non-violent Afghan Taliban should be requested to step in as mediators to prevent any crisis from emerging.
Moreover, as of now no demands have been made by kidnappers for releasing the hostages. If any demands potentially come in, then the state should assess them carefully and no unjust demands should be entertained at any level. Afghanistan is already going through a difficult phase due to a derailed and long delayed peace process that was supposed to bring stability in light of the proposals agreed at the Heart of Asia Conference’s fifth dialogue held in December 2015 at Islamabad.
The now dormant Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) that comprises of Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and the United States must work together to bring peace in the war-torn country. The hostage crisis in Logar province signifies the fact that lawlessness is widespread in Afghan territory with the government confined to limited areas of largely urban nature. The QCG must resolve its internal differences and move forward in its ambitious goals. Pakistan is already playing a central role in the peace talks, and the recent visit of a Taliban delegation to Beijing was a small but positive step towards peace.
Nevertheless, the hostage crisis must be resolved diplomatically for the benefit of the peace process. Any mishap during the course of the crisis could further hamper peace and stability in the region. Hence, it is hoped that the right course of action would be taken by the governments of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
We wish the hostages a safe and quick return home.
Eradicating polio
Early this year, health authorities cheered the progress Pakistan had made against the existence of poliomyelitis. A significant drop seen in the number of its reported new cases reported — only 13 as compared to a whopping 294 in 2014 — was celebrated as the last push to the virus now on the edge of eradication. However, the re-emergence of polio in water samples in Peshawar after two consecutive months of negative testing comes as a challenge to the country’s extensive regimen against polio.
The viral presence is even more worrisome for the authorities because of its location. Peshawar was previously declared as the world’s “largest reservoir” of polio by the World Health Organisation (WHO), in 2014, when nearly all polio cases in Pakistan were found to be genetically related to the viral strains found in the city. Although Pakistan had launched its Expanded Programme of Immunisation as early as the 1970s, the campaign did not meet with much success until recently. It was only when government laid out plans in conjunction with international donors, Bill Gates and UNICEF, to establish emergency operation centres, update the vaccine used to effectively target the virus, and even extend door-to-door immunisation to remote regions that the campaign resulted in four million beneficiaries. Nevertheless, the current struggle to overcome Pakistan’s high viral incidence stands in a stark contrast with the rest of the world, which has been nearly cleared free of polio. Hence, any resurgence threats that might further spike the numbers must be addressed on an immediate basis.
The previous state failures to contain the threat could be attributed to misconceptions about the drug and the parental refusal. Militants operating in North Waziristan encouraged misconceptions through their own propaganda campaigns, marking the vaccine as a western plot to sterilise Pashtuns and vaccinators as “American spies.” Frequent attacks on polio teams and constant death threats to all non-complying families further disillusioned the locals from joining hands with government. Since 2012, as many as 68 polio workers have been killed by militants while many others live a life marred by constant harassment.
Hence, if Pakistan aspires to succeed in preventing polio spread, it should assure security of its workers so that children can be vaccinated across the country. The administration should keep an eye on any possible breakouts until November and deal with the virus in its low transmission season. Not only would the campaign strike against polio in an effective manner it would also ensure that all target population receives shots. However, the societal hurdles also need to be dealt with, for which the mainstream media can play a crucial part. An awareness campaign should be initiated to address all concerns related to vaccination. Double vaccination is another option that can be pursued by the administration alongside the usage of smart technology to facilitate an effective campaign as well as counter the influence of corrupt elements in governmental machinery. Polio is on the verge of complete elimination, and Pakistan need to step up its battle against the virus.
