Daily Times

The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA)is a forum where ‘peoples of the world’ sit together despite having hostile relations and discuss, explain, formulate and solve the feuds and disagreements between nations. This annual session of the UNGA provides a unique opportunity to foreign ministers and chief executives (Presidents, Prime Ministers, Chancellors and Kings) of member states to highlight and express their respective country’s take on world affairs. UNGA is one of the six main organs of the United Nations and gives equal representation to member nations. It also elects a new president for each year and for the 72nd session of UNGA Mr. Miroslav Lajcak — a politician from Slovakia — was elected as the new president on September 11, 2017.

At the 72nd Session of the UNGA, Pakistan was represented by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. During his 21 minute longs peech, he covered many aspects of international security and highlighted the threats to the national security of Pakistan, he paid special attention to security threats emanating from Pakistan’s Eastern and Western borders.

It can be concluded that PM Abbasi’s speech was audacious and reflected the true voice of the nation

Remarkably, the PM also referred to the Indian Cold Start Doctrine and referred to it as a ‘limited’ war doctrine. Though, an Indian author Shashank Joshi argued in his ‘India’s Military Instrument: A Doctrine Stillborn’ that the Indian Army’s ambitious military doctrine is yet to be fully operationalised. Joshi’s article was published in 2013 and one contends this assertion and opined in ‘CSD: Clear and Present Danger’ that now after more than 13 years of its inception, Cold Start is in its operational phase. A dimension can be drawn that it was very wise and perhaps audacious of PM Abbasi to highlight the threat of a conventional war in the shadow of nuclear weapons, which can be used at any time if Pakistan and India ever engage in open warfare with each other.

PM Abbasi has drawn a remarkable critique on Indian crimes against humanity in Jammu and Kashmir. However, he should have drawn the worlds’ attention towards the increasing ‘saffron terrorism’ in India and also the latter’s use of dams as a means of intimidation and India’s violation of the Indus Water Treaty of 1960.

The PM has addressed the phenomenon of terrorism tremendously and categorically iterated Pakistan’s viewpoint on terrorism. While talking about non-traditional security threats and the Paris Agreement — PM Abbasi has indirectly criticised US President Donald Trump and backed up the views of German Chancellor Angela Merkel on climate change and global warming.

It is quite unfortunate that mainstream opposition parties in Pakistan did not appreciate the statement vocally. Instead in their routine or perhaps due to political friction — they resorted to characterise the speech in a way that suited their political needs. The domestic policy reflects the foreign policy of a state and in this regard US President William Jefferson Clinton said that “The more time I spend on foreign policy… the more I become convinced that there is no longer a clear distinction between what is foreign and domestic.” Similarly, an American scholar Joyce P. Kaufman also argued that foreign policy decisions just cannot be made without being affected by the domestic factors. These assertions cement one’s belief that Pakistan’s domestic political landscape has been a serious stumbling block in formulating a highly pragmatic and effective foreign policy.

Apart from the remarkable and persuasive rhetoric and content of the speech, it is noticeable that PM Abbasi didn’t show effective use of body language and stress-cum-emotions in his speech. Historically, Napoleon Bonaparte argued that a leader is a dealer in hope and by this assertion it can be deduced that a manipulative use of emotions results in maximisation of hope. Ultimately, effective body language helps in securing policy objectives.

Leaders have used this particular tactic over the course of history to successfully exploit the use of emotions in their favour. Surprisingly, by concluding the Munich Agreement in September 1938 — then British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain is considered very weak for refusing to take on Adolf Hitler’s Germany. In the end, Chamberlain could not compare to Hitler’s effective use of emotions which Hitler employed in his rhetoric regarding safeguarding the rights of ethnic Germans. This historic analogy could have been and still can be employed effectively by PM Abbasi to achieve policy objectives.

While having some weaknesses primarily due to the structural and cultural limitations prevailing in Pakistan’s political culture — it can be concluded that PM Abbasi’s speech was audacious and reflected the true voice of the nation. By employing Margaret Hermann’s Leadership Trait Analysis framework, it can be deduced that PM Abbasi has ‘low’ conceptual complexity and ‘high’ distrust of others. Whatever his tactics were, it is very understandable that the primary objective of any leader is the pursuit of national interests.

The writer can be reached at: mmab11@gmail.com

Published in Daily Times, October 17^th 2017.