Business Recorder Editorial March 5, 2019

Shooting oneself in the foot

Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi announced in the joint session of parliament on March 1, 2019 that he had decided not to attend the foreign ministers meeting at the 46^th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) after a resolution was passed in this regard to protest the participation of Indian Minister for External Affairs Sushma Swaraj in the event as a guest of honour. Although Shah Mahmood Qureshi said a Foreign Office delegation would participate in the event in Abu Dhabi to oppose any attempt to give India observer’s status at the OIC, this cannot be considered adequate. The joint sitting may have been unanimous on the issue, with only Co-Chairperson Pakistan People’s Party Asif Zardari registering a dissenting note to the effect that the Foreign Minister should have attended to take advantage of the opportunity to expose India’s recent belligerence and violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and place Pakistan’s objection to the honour bestowed on Sushma Swaraj, he too ultimately acquiesced in the sense of the house. Shah Mahmood Qureshi had written two letters to the UAE Foreign Minister protesting the invitation to Sushma Swaraj without consultations with OIC members and pointing out India had carried out an attack on a founding member of the OIC with which it had an unresolved conflict over Kashmir. However, the UAE regretted its inability to retract an invitation sent before the Pulwama incident that triggered the present tensions between Pakistan and India. Although the joint sitting of parliament welcomed the strong condemnation by the OIC Contact Group on Jammu and Kashmir over the oppression of and atrocities against the Kashmiri people by the Indian forces in Indian Held Kashmir (IHK) and the violations on the Line of Control (LoC), it did not rise above shortsighted reactive sentiment. Apprehensions were voiced in the joint session that the OIC may be contemplating going further and offering India permanent membership.

The invitation to Sushma Swaraj is a reflection of the changing dynamics and alignments in the region. Saudi Arabia and the UAE are eying the enormous Indian market and may in the process be trying to wean India away from their regional rival Iran. Israeli support to India through provision of the latest weaponry is also something to be noted. Had Pakistan’s Foreign Minister taken advantage of his presence at the OIC moot, he could have and indeed should have registered his protest at the Indian foreign minister being honoured in this manner without following proper consultative procedure and while ignoring the contentious position of India vis-à-vis Pakistan and its policies in IHK. The boycott by Shah Mahmood Qureshi left the field open to Sushma Swaraj, who took advantage of the opportunity to present a rosy picture of her country’s diversity and tolerance of different religious groups, whereas the situation on the ground is her Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government’s pursuing its Hindutva agenda at the cost of all non-Hindu religious communities, especially Muslims. As it is, the refutation of Sushma Swaraj’s false picture went abegging. The boycott by our foreign minister therefore could rightly be described as incongruous and a missed opportunity to plead Pakistan’s case. States function according to their interests, and it is self-delusion to think that a common religion can always trump these interests. It needs only to be pointed out that there is disquiet about Saudi Arabia and the UAE creeping towards a recognition of Israel, a step that would mark the abandonment of the Palestinian cause. Voices have been heard recently here too, the most prominent being ex-dictator Pervez Musharraf arguing for recognition of the Zionist entity to prevent Indian-Israeli growing ties, which also position New Delhi favourably in Washington. While the idea draws severe criticism from a wide array of opinion in Pakistan because of an emotional attachment to the Palestinians’ cause and suffering, pragmatists, few though they may be, argue for a review of our foreign policy to take account of the changing dynamic of geopolitics regionally and globally lest Pakistan finds itself left behind by the dizzying pace of change, particularly vis-à-vis Muslim countries’ edging closer to India and Israel.