Daily Times

We can call it missing in action; we can call it missing in communication; we can call it missing in implementation, but missing it is. We need to give advertisements of ‘wanted-foreign policy’, which seem to have disappeared in the context of regional or global politics. If you ever want to produce a book on how to convert your friends into enemies, you can take serious references from Pakistan’s mindboggling foreign policy — that is if one exists. Conflict with India has historical roots, but conflict with Afghanistan and abrasive behavior with Iran is definitely something that the incumbent government has very painfully architected. Unfortunately, these three countries are the centre of terrorism-controversy in the region, and have always branded Pakistan as the epicentre of terrorist attacks. Pakistan instead of diffusing this image has done everything to reinforce it. How are we supposed to convince the world that each time the head of a terrorist organisation is captured in Pakistan it is a coincidence or a conspiracy or complete ignorance? Whichever way we try to present it, it just adds to deepening the bad image we have.

In 2011, the Abbottabad operation by the US led to the death of Osama bin Laden. In 2013, Mullah Omar had presumably died in a hospital in Karachi, and now we find out that Mullah Mansour was droned by US jets in Balochistan. The almost-tight-lipped reaction by government each time some of the most wanted men in the world who do not belong to Pakistan are found in Pakistan is incomprehensible. Prime minister was told of this incident by John Kerry, and the former did not think it was important enough to be discussed with the minister of interior, defence or the chief of the armed forces. The next day he just took his family for a medical check-up to London rather than having a fast response to a major crisis in his country. It was only when all hell broke loose on media on this event that he casually mentioned it in his media talk that he had received a call from Kerry and that the army chief also knew about it. Our foreign office that has this amazing habit of reacting when every body has raised hue and cry over its lameness then issued a typical cut-and-paste protest statement over the ‘infringement of sovereignty of the country’.

Pakistan’s relations with the US have been struggling due to the inability of government to negotiate with an equal hand. Money and aid from the US have always been taken in return for accepting their encroachment on our political and economic jurisdiction. The recent refusal to subsidise the F-16 deal by the US and also to make Coalition Support Funds conditional to Pakistan on ‘doing more’ against the Haqqani network, for release of Dr Shakil Afridi, and the aid not going to suppress religious and ethnic minorities is self-evident. These conditionalities have always been the hallmark of US/Pakistan relations. We can blame America for being unfair but the real blame lies on successive governments who have allowed the US to openly derogate the country by blatantly exposing the barter of money-versus-independent policy-making. Even when the US and other countries dole out charity money they make conditions on where and how it can be used by the recipients.

The only thing new about the Mullah Mansour killing is that it has happened in Balochistan. This is the first drone attack in this province, and it is ominous for Pakistan’s future sovereignty and national security. With bin Laden’s killing it was shocking that the US attacked him in Abbottabad in a place that was at walking distance from the Kakul Military Academy. The widening of the US incursion on Pakistan territory is very disturbing in the context of President Barack Obama’s statement in Vietnam. He categorically stated that wherever US interests were threatened it was duty bound to eliminate them. This indicates that drone strikes would continue, and if needed they could affect Punjab or Sindh provided American intelligence agencies indicate a high-value target in these areas.

The absence of any coherent foreign policy has made us look like fools time and again. Government has failed to lead this very critical political imperative. There is no minister; there are two advisors; conflict between these two advisors has consumed government; and the foreign office is headless, torn between the whims of two competing bosses. The prime minister’s understanding of foreign policy does not go beyond paying regular attendance to the royal family of Saudi Arabia during his pilgrimage trips, and attending the nikah ceremony of Turkish president’s daughter. With communication with the armed forces at an arm’s length it is a complete disaster on all fronts.

Due to this lack of leadership, competence, communication and coordination, today there are many questions that if not answered will invite more catastrophe. There is the question of how Mullah Mansour was carrying a Pakistani passport and an Iranian visa. The question of how he had traversed 400 kilometres and crossed the border undetected. The question of how the American intelligence knew about his whereabouts and Pakistani intelligence did not. The question if Mullah Mansour was for peace in Afghanistan or against it as per the American claim. The question if Pakistan had any prior information of the attack. The question why if the prime minister and army chief were informed by Kerry an immediate response was delayed. The question of why the body was found headless but with the passport intact. The question of why the body was handed to some claimed relative who disappeared with the body from the hospital despite this being the highest-alert security incident.

These are questions that have been asked about many security breaches like the incidents in Abbottabad and Salala, and have remained unanswered. The normal consequence is the formation of a commission to write a report to provide answers to these questions. The Abbottabad report went missing, is still lost and would never be found. The reason given was that the report held both government and armed forces responsible for this breach of security. The Hamood-ur-Rehman commission report also was neither made public nor acted upon. That is why these incidents recur. If weaknesses pointed out in inquiry reports are never acknowledged and never taken care of, they come back and haunt us. The present incident is following the same pattern. However, if this incident is also pushed under the political carpet and action not taken both at foreign policy and security level, all efforts of Zarb-e-Azb and National Action Plan may prove futile. The biggest question is whether government is willing to have a foreign policy that spearheads national interests or let foreign countries drive and control what, when, and how they use or abuse our territory, our resources and our national priorities.

The writer is a columnist and analyst and can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com