Now is the time for President Obama to correct the course of flawed US policy towards Pakistan, as he does not have to worry about re-election, said Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Chairman Senate’s Standing Committee on Defence and Defence Production, at a roundtable organised by the Institute of Regional Studies (IRS) here on Tuesday, says a press release.

Mushahid maintained that President Obama was re-elected at a time of declining international political clout of the US. He argued that president Obama won re-election despite strong and vocal opposition from Israel, which, he added, was unusual. He hoped that President Obama would rectify the mistakes of the first term without having to worry about re-election to the office. He added that there were many flaws in US policy towards Pakistan in the first term of President Obama such as misuse of the drone technology, wanting Pakistan to facilitate negotiations with the Taliban on the one hand and asking it to launch operations against them on the other, and trying to bypass Pakistan in reaching out to Taliban leadership for talks etc.

Senator Mushahid Hussain maintained that Pakistan would expect the new Obama administration to halt the drone attacks, which, he argued, were a violation of the international law and a cause of deaths of the civilians. He added that Pakistan would also want the US to include Pakistan in any reconciliation process in Afghanistan, and that Pakistan would expect the US to resolve its problems with Iran diplomatically. Senator Mushahid Hussain maintained, however, that Pakistan will also have to be more firm in its opposition to drone attacks. He added that the Americans are capable of course-corrections and that President Obama would be bolder in his second term in the office.

Mushahid Hussain shared that he had had the privilege of meeting with the president-in-waiting of China Xi Jinping. He called him a frank, confident, and farsighted leader. He advised the US against pursuing a containment of China policy. He was of the view that any such policy would diminish the dividends of a developing Asia for the world.

Talking about South Asia, Mushahid Hussain said that the region is in transition as elections are nearing in Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, and Iran. He maintained that new regionalism was emerging in South Asia, which was also taking countries like Afghanistan, Myanmar, Iran, and China into its folds. He was of the view that India should not have backed out of Iran-Pakistan-India (IPI) gas pipeline, as the project could be a game-changer in regional integration.

Talking about the domestic situation in Pakistan, Mushahid Hussain argued that dynamism was visible in Pakistan. He maintained that power had gotten diffused into multiple centres of power like the executive, the judiciary, the legislature, the media, the military, and even the civil society. He added that smooth transition from one civilian government to another after completion of the full-term of the first would be a milestone in Pakistan’s political history.

Stephan Roken, Deputy Head of the German Mission in Pakistan, argued that the Qatar reconciliation process with the Taliban was not aimed at bypassing Pakistan and that Pakistan government was kept informed of all the developments. He cautioned the audience against viewing international bilateral and regional relations in zero-sum terms. He added that the example of European integration was a clear example of non-zero sum win-win situation. Rick Waters, Deputy Political Counsellor of the US Embassy, argued that there was a bipartisan constancy on most issues pertaining to Pak-US relations that is why Pakistan should not expect a major post-election change in US policy towards Pakistan.

Ambassador B.A. Malik , Prof. Zhou Rong of the Chinese Guangming Daily, Dr. Shabana Fayyaz of the Department of Defense and Strategic Studies at the Quaid-i-Azam University, IRS President Ashraf Azim, Lt. Gen. (r) Saleem Haider, Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi, Centre for International Strategic Studies Executive Director Syed Moazzam Hashmi, Pakistan Institute for Legislative Development and Transparency Executive Director Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, Deputy Head of the Mission of the Embassy of France Gilles Bourbao and researchers from IRS.
 

Published in THE NEWS
November 14, 2012