HILLARY A POLITICAL DISASTER IN PAKISTAN

Regarding Hillary Clinton's trip to Pakistan:I followed her perigrinations with interest. I read the news reports and listened to radio soundbites and watched film snippets aired on TV showing her addressing young Moslem women, praying at a mosque, etc. etc. Our press, which with rare exceptions is incapable of examining US foreign policy in a rational, balanced way--(whatever Fox News claims)--and in accordance with tradition the trip and its on the surface polite reaction was presented to the gullible American public as if it was a success--a tour de force. But watching closely and reading between the lines, I had another opinion. For me, there were clear evidences that our Madam Secretary, Hillary Clinton, bombed in Pakistan. Her arrival, coinciding with the horrible Taliban explosions in Peshawar, was the political equivalent of a truck bomb. Whatever the policy-goals the Obama Administration hoped for with this Clinton trip--they were clearly not achieved.

But read what the Pakistanis had to say:

Two editiorials follow from "The Nation" (Pakistan Newspaper)
Otober 29, 2009, one entitled "Hillary's Tubewells"
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Editorials/29-Oct-2009/Hillarys-tubewells, Hl

And the other, on the next day, October 30, 2009 entitled, "Pointless Symbolism":
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Editorials/30-Oct-2009/Pointless-symbolism/

1. Hillary's Tubewells
HILLARY Clinton's visit has not brought anything new for the Pakistani people. In fact the visit seems like a PR exercise but who will buy what the US is selling is difficult to imagine, beyond the already compliant government. Unfortunately, she began her visit with the usual targeting of Pakistan's nuclear arsenal by declaring how worried the US was about nuclear-armed terrorists and proliferation. Now if that was really the case the US would hasten to shore up its own rather weak command and control mechanisms, given how its nuclear weapons have a tendency to going missing and are discovered on their air force planes without any authorisation. As for proliferation, after the US-India nuclear accord, the US itself stands guilty of breaching the NPT; and there is the continuing proliferation from the US to Israel that no one seems prepared to discuss. She also wants Pakistan to "work with" the US on the Fissile Material Cutoff Treaty despite the fact that Pakistan has serious reservations on the US draft, which seeks to put Pakistan at a permanent disadvantage to India in terms of fissile material.

But what was worse was the rather obvious effort by the US Secretary of State to send some sort of a "message" to the Pakistan military, not only through her nuclear diatribe but also her overuse of the "democracy" reference! In terms of concrete offerings, there seemed little beyond some 10,000 tube wells, although the usual promises of working for development and so on were there! Unfortunately, our Foreign Minister seems so beholden to the Americans that he goes into a spasmodic mode of gratitude in their company and yesterday was no different. He declared the US a "great friend of Pakistan" but refused to demand of this "friend" that it stop the flow of weapons coming to the TTP from Afghanistan. Given that the Peshawar blast had occurred before the joint press conference, it did not become our Foreign Minister not to have raised this crucial issue. After all, post-9/11 there is a terrorist incident every 40 hours in NWFP, and this cannot happen without the supply of weapons and money from Afghanistan.

On our energy problem, Ms Clinton merely declared that the US is committed to addressing the issue; but if its way of dealing with it is to demand that we end subsidies and abandon the Iran pipeline project then we are better off without their help. If the US is serious it should sign an India-like civil nuclear deal with Pakistan but who out of the present leadership will demand this and stick to it? And that is the problem with Pakistan's US relationship. The US approach towards Pakistan was summed up in the visual of Holbrooke slumped in his chair, chewing gum nonchalantly in the talks. After all, they have what they want from Pakistan. Our tragedy is that amongst all the US-groveling, there is no one left to speak for Pakistan."

[Note: "Tubewells" are small-diameter (10 cm @4") pipes driven into the ground to tap groundwater for domestic water supply. The reference was to some 10,000 wells promised by Ms Clinton for the often parched highlands of Pakistan.]

Then on October 30, 2009
October 30, 2009 Editorial, "Pointless Symbolism":
http://www.nation.com.pk/pakistan-news-newspaper-daily-english-online/Opinions/Editorials/30-Oct-2009/Pointless-symbolism/

2. Pointless Symbolism

"It is a moment to ponder on the insensitivity of the Pakistani leadership that it failed to observe a sense of mourning over the Peshawar carnage with its official banqueting on Wednesday. But the leadership has never been overly sensitive to the people, except perhaps at election time. However, the US Secretary of State could have been more responsive to the tragedy since she was on a major PR exercise targeting the people of Pakistan. Yet, despite the tragic shadow of the Peshawar carnage, Ms Clinton has continued with what is now clearly solely a PR exercise aimed at winning over hearts and minds. But with what? A few sanitised meetings with selected media people, students and the ‘right’ civil society members? (One female scholar declined the invite when asked to come three hours in advance and wait for the coach!) And let us not forget the photo ops at the correct religious symbols - Sufism’s Bari Imam and the historic Lahore symbol, Badshahi Mosque. Clearly the US does not understand the Pakistani nation, which is neither purchasable nor so gullible. Just because Ms Clinton declares that she likes Pakistani food, or visits a Sufi shrine will hardly endear the US and make up for the loss of Pakistani lives in drone attacks; nor will it make us forget the present quagmire we have become stuck in as a result of this “war on terror” which has unleashed a rain of terror on the Pakistani people across the whole country.

There are, therefore, core issues of contention, if not outright conflict, between the US and the Pakistani nation at least, if not the leadership. Unfortunately, Ms Clinton chose to remain silent on them when they were raised even in the sanitised settings created for her. For instance, on the drone attacks, she declared she did not want to get into it. Earlier she had stated that in a war weapons like drones are used but she should have realised that one uses these against an enemy state not against an allied state’s territory!

Again, when asked about the illegal activities of US diplomats in the Capital she simply declared she did not know anything of this. Now given that all US diplomats come under the State Department and Ms Clinton is the Secretary of State, it is astonishing to find that she was ignorant on what has become a major diplomatic issue in Pakistan. All in all, if Ms Clinton really wants to win over the Pakistani nation to thinking positively about the US, she will have to tackle these contentious issues as well as stop the diatribes and warnings regarding our nukes. The time for beguiling the people of Pakistan with symbolism is long over; it is time to show intent through actions. Of course, had Ms Clinton chosen to show some sense of mourning for the over 100 dead Pakistanis in Peshawar, it would have been a most befitting symbolism."

Get the picture?


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