It is about time people in Pakistan end their obsession with the United States. This obsession coupled with academic discourse and narrative dominated by US-Pakistan relations has only served to complicate the relationship further in the past 10 years. At times, it appears that the US and Pakistan are trying to scratch too much out of a relationship that does not have much to offer: the two countries need a break. In the years to come with the US withdrawal from Afghanistan, and a predicted loss of interest of the US in the region, now is the right time for Pakistan to look towards east, to Australia, a rising giant that has sailed its way to progress while the western countries were figuring out ways to get out of the financial crisis of 2007.
My interest in Australia developed as a part of my push to the Pakistan government to liberalise its foreign policy, look elsewhere for strategic partnerships, and build ties with those countries that we have ignored in the past. What I advocate is a realistic foreign policy for Pakistan. While the USAID, and the works of the American government are well known in Pakistan, more so in negative terms something that might be changing now, the Australian government through AUSAID has been silently working on issues that are actually important for Pakistan without the knowledge of public at large. For instance, since 2005, the Australian government has been working through the agriculture sector linkages programme to develop Pakistan’s export potential in dairy and citrus products. Australia being a giant in agriculture, dairy, and livestock business would be a natural trade ally to a small country like Pakistan that depends enormously on these sectors.
Also, the Australia Pakistan Joint Trade Committee and Australia Pakistan Business Forum have been working closely to enhance trade cooperation between the two countries. Pakistan exports 19 percent of Australia’s entire bed linen import, which is remarkable. In terms of education more than 250 scholarships by the Australian government has been given for students to study in Australia in the past two years, and more are planned in the future. Moreover, Australia has injected almost $100 million in development aid focusing extensively on saving lives through improved healthcare and education, and enhancing sustainable economic development through increased agricultural production, something that Pakistan desperately needs to figure a way out of to curb its food crisis in the future.
What is also interesting is that the Federal Australian Police has a 25-year-old relationship with Pakistan law enforcement agencies, and have worked together to combat transnational crimes, such as terrorism, drug trafficking, and illegal migration without complaining about ‘doing more’. Australia also enjoys solid relations with the Pakistan military and have bilateral annual training courses for army officers. In fact, Australia has been sending an army officer annually to the military college in Quetta since 1907.
What, however, makes Australia-Pakistan relationship more strategic in nature and something that Pakistan government must start to take seriously is the exponential growth in Australian Pakistan community who now is around 30,000 in number; many of them living a highly successful life in Australia. More than 7,000 students are also enrolled in Australian universities, and with the tightening of British, American, and Canadian visa policies, Australia is becoming the land of dreams for many bright Pakistani students and workers.
While these numbers are yet small, the projections for the next 20 years are convincing enough to enable the policy makers in Pakistan to start looking towards east today to develop long term people to people relations, something that Pakistan missed out with Russia after the collapse of the Soviet Union and now regrets.
The most beneficial aspect of Australia-Pakistan relations is that it is free from dirty politics, and covert intelligence wars that taint the US-Pakistan relations. Neither does Australia entertain any superpower ambitions, nor would it be interested to use Pakistan as a proxy in classical Machiavellian politics. Even the domestic opinion in Pakistan about Australia is overwhelmingly positive, probably due to cricket relations, and would allow easy and transparent growth in relations. While Australia is concerned about the security situation in Pakistan as suggested in a Pakistan Strategy Paper published by the Australian government, the focal point remains the economic and business interest in Pakistan. For the United States, Pakistan has never been a trade ally or a country of economic interest, and even the American aid to Pakistan is after all linked with security.
With Australia, Pakistan has a potential for strategic relations based on economic interest with mutual respect, something that Pakistan desperately needs in the region. It is due to a reason that there is a common saying, ‘The best relation is a business relation’, since both parties are in it for their own best interest.
Sooner that Pakistan is able to liberalise its American-centric foreign policy, quicker the government can start seriously exploring potential for strategic relations with other countries like Australia. The good way to begin is to start educating the public on Australia-Pakistan relations and host in collaboration with the Australian High Commission in Islamabad a series of conferences, and events opening up a discussion, changing the narrative dominated by US-Pakistan relations, and igniting an interest in the public to explore Australia as a potential close ally of Pakistan in the region.
The writer is a lecturer at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Islamabad. He is also an Associate Fellow at the International Centre for the Study of Radicalisation (ICSR), Kings College, London. He can be reached at [email protected]