Pakistan at its crafty ways
At a press briefing last week, the Pakistan foreign ministry spokesperson expressed her country’s commitment to cooperate with the Food and Agricultural Organisation’s (FAO) South-West Asian Commission (SWAC) for the control of desert locusts. Apart from Pakistan, India, Iran and Afghanistan are SWAC members. India and Pakistan are facing the worst locust infestation in over two decades. The FAO recently noted, ‘Early migration of spring-bred swarms from southwest Pakistan to Rajasthan India occurred in May… and some swarms continued to northern states for the first time since 1962.’ It also warned that these locust swarms will return to Rajasthan to lay eggs with the arrival of the monsoon. Thereafter, ‘successive waves of swarms will arrive from southern Iran in June and the Horn of Africa in July’ to join those breeding in Rajasthan.
While the Pakistani spokesperson also said, ‘We believe that the respective technical teams have been coordinating appropriately through FAO’, it seems that the reality, as yet, is different. Pakistani cooperation, at least with India, has been unsatisfactory. The FAO is a clearing house of information and provides a regional picture. It cannot be a substitute for direct technical cooperation which will be beneficial to both countries to control a menace which is adversely impacting agriculture in both countries, and that, too, in the time of Covid-19. The problem is that Pakistan’s traditional irrational approaches towards India have exacerbated after constitutional changes in J&K. Consequently, it has locked itself in a corner, even on issues of a humanitarian nature concerning lives and livelihoods.
In the multilateral context, too, the Pakistani leadership has acted petulantly. While all other SAARC leaders participated in a video summit convened at PM Modi’s initiative to discuss pathways for cooperation among member-states to meet the Covid challenge, Pakistan was represented by PM Imran Khan’s health adviser, who could not refrain from raising the J&K issue. Through his absence, Khan wanted to make a point against Modi. Pakistan also tried to create problems for the mechanism for disbursement of the Covid emergency fund proposed by Modi. India made an initial contribution of $10 million to assist other SAARC states.
Over the past three months, even as Pakistan has been going through the pandemic, which has, as elsewhere, led to acute health and economic distress, its anti-India actions and propaganda have continued unabated. These include continuing attempts to infiltrate terrorists into J&K. Some of these have been thwarted by our Army in actions in which officers and jawans have made the supreme sacrifice. Pakistan has initiated firing across the LOC to assist in infiltration attempts. This has led to exchanges of fire in which some civilians have lost their lives. While the Pakistan army continues to instigate terrorist acts, Imran Khan has accused India of planning false flag operations.
The principal allegation is that under the Modi government, India has moved towards Hindu supremacism and is becoming Islamophobic. Seven weeks ago, foreign minister Shah Qureshi approached the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) to condemn India for discriminatory treatment of Muslims. He indulged in the usual invective but failed to move the organisation to effectively respond to Pakistan’s entreaties. About a fortnight back, Pakistan railed against India at an OIC meeting of the member-states’ representatives at the UN in New York. It asked that a group be set up to look at Islamophobia in India. Its quest failed because reportedly the UAE and the Maldives did not go along with India being targeted.
The fact is that though sections of opinion in some Islamic states have articulated concerns that India is moving away from its secular ethos, only a few countries such as Turkey want to go along with Pakistan. They signal their concerns directly and very discreetly. This is naturally a disappointment to Pakistan that wants to lead the Islamic world to actively campaign against India. It is unlikely that it will succeed in this endeavour because of its association with terrorism and its very poor economic situation. This, despite it being the only Muslim country with nuclear weapons.
Not surprisingly, Pakistan has, vassal-like, supported China in the recent Sino-Indian tensions along the LAC. Late last month, Qureshi held India’s ‘illegal constructions’ responsible for them. He went on to whitewash its patron’s actions to change the status quo by asserting that it could not remain ‘oblivious’ to them. Both Imran Khan and he used the present time to once more repeat Pakistan’s charge that India pursues expansionist policies and is a threat to its neighbours. Wisely, Indian spokespersons do not generally respond to such absurd charges. Instead, when required, they seek to keep the focus on Pakistan’s involvement in sponsoring terrorism.
On May 31, India apprehended two officials of the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi for spying. They were questioned, released, declared persona non grata and expelled. In itself this was not unusual, for spies working undercover in diplomatic missions are sent back when caught. What is surprising is that Pakistan has not taken the conventional step of reciprocal expulsion. It seems it does not want merely to order reciprocal expulsions, but before that apprehend and mistreat at least two Indian High Commission staff members. It is obviously waiting for an opportunity. Sadly, Covid-19 has had no sobering effect on Pakistani approaches to India. Its reflexive animosities continue.
