Daily Times

I am confused if I should label as surprising or shameless the Pakistani Foreign Ministry’s silence on our losing battle on human rights violations in the European parliament.

About two weeks have elapsed since the EU parliament debated and passed a resolution against human rights violations in Pakistan. Yet, there is no word on this from the Pakistan government. It seems Pakistan has not taken this matter seriously.

On the other hand, the Indian media has reflected the EU Resolution as a big success for India against Pakistan, especially in the context of Kulbhushan Jadhav who has been sentenced to death by Pakistan for espionage.The Indian government and their media were shouting out the case of Jadhav, who was sentenced to death in April 2017 by a military court. Unfortunately, Pakistan was once again silent.

When the Indian media was propagating that Jadhav was sentenced without giving him any access to consular services which is in breach of international law, even then Pakistan was silent.

When India was pushing the move against Pakistan in the EU parliament, Pakistan was found sleeping even after the resolution had passed.

Pakistan’s deep silence is not ironic, but is in fact meaningful support to the Indian stance. Despite criticism from every nook and corner, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif never uttered a word at any international platform or global forum on Kulbhushan Jadhav and his terrorist activities in Pakistan.

Many believed that Nawaz Sharif’s silence over the matter was meaningful support to India. Meanwhile, the Pakistani Army carried out a trial and announced a sentence against Jadhav.

Many have questioned the silence of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the Kulbhushan Jadhav issue.

The question is if the Prime Minister and his government are not on the same page with the Pakistan Army even on this matter of national security or if this is a complete failure of diplomacy on another front — the human rights situation in Pakistan?

The recent lobbying by India and the EU Parliament’s adoption of a resolution condemning Pakistan’s “human rights violations” will certainly mount pressure on Islamabad not to execute Kulbhushan Jadhav

Whatever it is, the consequences would be too immense to handle in the near future. This might significantly impact our trade with the EU and other countries. There may also be a further decline in the already diminishing space for Pakistan in the international arena.

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif needs to speak up in favour of the military court’s decision, mobilise the government, and give a wake-up call to sleeping foreign missions for active diplomacy on the issue.

Our poor nation spares billions of rupees every year for diplomacy and lobbying on various issues. Pakistan’s foreign missions are funded very heavily but whenever Pakistan needs them to produce, they fail to defend the country against the aggressive moves of rival countries and fail to effectively propagate Pakistan’s stance.

Attorney-General of Pakistan Ashtar Ausaf Ali in his comment on the issue said, “A lot of disinformation has been spread by India to hurt the standing of Pakistan in the international community.”

Spreading misconception about the human rights situation in Pakistan may be the Indian way of diplomacy. What exactly is Pakistan’s strategy in propagating its stance over the situation? What is the role of the human rights ministry in Pakistan and abroad?

Millions have been spent on the international visits of Federal Minister for Human Rights Kamran Micheal and his ‘blue-eyed boys’. What is the outcome of his visits and who will question his performance as well as the performance of the ‘baboos’ sitting in the ministry?

Will the Standing Committees on human rights, foreign affairs, and trade and commerce of the National Assembly and Senate take notice of the situation or will everything be ignored?

We must not forget that the EU granted us the GSP Plus status in 2014 which was linked to the improvement of the human rights situation in the country. Most importantly, the EU attached to it the condition to ban death sentences in Pakistan.

The recent lobbying by India and the EU parliament’s adoption of a resolution condemning Pakistan’s “human rights violations” will certainly mount pressure on Pakistan not to carry out the death sentence of Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav. If Pakistan goes ahead with its sovereign decision, how will this impact the status of GSP plus?

While we need to think about accountability for the failure of the foreign office and the human rights ministry in the propagation of favourable position of Pakistan on human rights, we must also take up a vigorous and inclusive strategy to safe guard our trade interests in the framework of the GSP plus status.

The writer is an Islamabad-based policy advocacy, strategic communication and outreach expert. He can be reached at devcom.pakistan@gmail.com. He tweets @EmmayeSyed

Published in Daily Times, June 30th, 2017.