Daily Times

US President Obama congratulated the president-elect, Donald Trump, and vowed for a peaceful transition of power. He rightly said, “We are now all rooting for his success”. The defeated presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, said that Donald Trump must be given a chance to lead. “I am sorry we did not win,” Clinton told supporters, calling for a peaceful transfer of power to Trump and promising to defend the US values. While speaking on Trump’s victory, she said that we owe him an open mind. The president and the prime minister of Pakistan have already congratulated president-elect on his victory. Pakistan attaches a top priority to all initiatives for regional and world peace and looks forward to working with the new administration of the US closely as in the past.

It is time to join hands and say no to politics of hate and discrimination of all sorts. Trump has to respect the aspirations of the people and prepare to deliver to make America great again; projecting unity and reconciliation rather than divisiveness. It is important to understand that greatness signifies a sense of accommodation and working together, not building walls to keep others out. The way forward is building bridges and brightening the future. Those who have come to America are the finest brains and a fund of super-merit that has contributed to building this nation and making it a superpower.

A leader should have the courage to follow his heart and intuition, especially the leader made in crisis. A leader’s role is to build creative confidence, unleashing the creative potential within us all. It is certainly a false belief that only some people are creative. A leader’s task is to boost innovative capacities. If you are talking about change, as Trump did, you have to think of creative confidence, a rare combination of “thought leadership,” soulful tales of the human mind and human feelings, and real-life exercises that inspire you to reclaim your creative passion and courage. And I would say, a political leader cannot be partial to his own party and policies. He has to be an impartial leader of the whole nation, and, beyond that, an impartial leader of the world at large; doing justice and looking to be fair and just. Beyond and within the frontiers of the US, the people would be expecting Trump to do things right and do the right things within his power and capabilities. The land of opportunities should be the land of equal opportunities, without discrimination or biases.

Trump has the opportunity to uncover the world and know the aspirations of the people beyond the New World that Columbus had created. The real people do not operate on prejudices and falsehood. They are innocent souls that believe in the language of hearts that attract hearts and those who love humanity in the context we call ‘romanticism’. They are for peace and prosperity and care of the needy. They deserve to be given an opportunity of co-existence.

On the Pak-India relations and the Kashmir dispute, it would be naïve to think of any positive measures happening with the election of Donald Trump as President of the US. Perceptions will not change, though Trump’s statements will become somewhat more diplomatic. We have to admit the presence of a strong Indian lobby in the US, continuously working against the interests of Pakistan and the Muslim World. At an event sponsored by the Republican Hindu Coalition (RHC) last month, Trump had said that the US and India would be “best friends.” He had also spoken of enhancing intelligence-sharing between the US and India to combat Muslim extremism. The Republican Hindu Coalition has helped Trump get the Indian-American vote. It is further clear what Trump’s stance is on Pakistan being a nuclear power and the American military and civilian assistance to Pakistan.

His perception of Pakistan is hard to change unless Pakistan struggles hard and makes sincere, deliberate efforts in that direction. People with roots in Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and some other sources are declared by Trump as threats to the US. We shall now have to confront a bigoted president and a more unreasonable Congress. With growing external and internal challenges, Pakistan has more difficult time ahead until Pakistani government and the opposition leaders play a more reasonable role in politics and diplomacy. Pakistan’s geographical location is its strength as well as its weakness. We need to keep Pakistan’s strategic importance more visible to the US leadership. They always come back to us in times of their need. Our need is to strengthen Pakistan’s internal unity and the country’s defence.

The US election 2016 has seemingly created more divisions in an environment of anti-Muslim attitudes. Donald Trump’s win stokes fears among minorities and raises fears of racial violence. Media in the US could play a vital role in creating a balance by correcting wrongs and removing misperceptions and prejudices for justice and fair play. Above everything else, the president-elect has to realise what he needs to do to strike a balance.

Advisers in the Republican Party can play a more positive role in briefing Trump on Pak-US traditional relationship as friends and partners. Pakistan government also needs to step up its diplomacy and invest more time and energy and other resources towards strengthening its lobbying in the right direction and channels. The world has to know that Indian extremism of fundamentalist Hindus is at its peak. No country has hate politics as its central agenda but extremist Hindu India does.

There is no limit to Indian hate politics, intolerance and fundamentalist extremism. The US and the American public must understand the dangers of Indian prejudice and hate politics.

The writer is a former Director of the National Institute of Public Administration (NIPA), a political analyst, a public policy expert and an author. His book Post 9/11 Pakistan was published in the US