Why West cries: Rebalancing East-West relations
SADLY, last week, a US-led western campaign was launched against Pakistan—pressurizing Islamabad to denounce the Russian invasion of Ukraine, failing which Islamabad could face some unpalatable consequences.
Foreign Office on Friday expressed concern over a press release issued by foreign envoys urging Pakistan to condemn the Russian invasion and said that use of such language by missions of the European countries was unacceptable, the statement said.
“We have conveyed our reservations to the European embassies,” the Foreign Office Spokesman said during the weekly briefing and added, “Secretary Foreign Affairs raised the matter with the envoys.
” Pakistan rightly condemns a western policy to intimidate and dictate a sovereign country. Keeping in view the changing dynamics of world order, Pakistan is obliged to charter an independent foreign policy discourse, fulfilling our national interests.
The West should not direct us what to do.If India is free to choose its foreign policy discourse, the same principle should be applied to Pakistan.
By no means, the West should accuse Pakistan if it chooses to rebalance its East-West relations.
While meeting with President Putin in Moscow on 24 February, “The Prime Minister regretted the latest situation between Russia and Ukraine and said that Pakistan had hoped diplomacy could avert a military conflict’’, read the Foreign Office handout.
The Moscow visit was already scheduled, while delaying the visit could have caused a diplomatic lull between Moscow and Islamabad, the PM Imran Khan decided to follow the diplomatic norms.
As for Pakistan-Russia relations, over the past few decades, with shifts in the international system — Russia’s resurgence under Vladimir Putin accompanied by an atmosphere of Pakistan’s freezing ties with the US— created an opportunity to re-evaluate their mutual relations.
Russia is finding new opportunities in South Asia as the US has completely withdrawn from Afghanistan.
Both Moscow and Islamabad have good relations with Beijing.This growing symmetry of regional trio is actually disturbing the West.
And yet, Islamabad and Moscow have faced some policy vicissitudes while redefining the scope of their relationship, and in the past decade or so, the trust deficit has been significantly declined.
As both sides have positively moved, there are sufficient grounds for alignments in terms of geopolitical, geo-economics and security thinking.
Here are six major areas where broad convergence of Russia-Pakistan’s bilateral policy interests could be identified: the future of Afghanistan; strategic balance in South Asia; nuclear doctrinal similarities; integration of conventional and nuclear deterrence; changing character of war—hybrid war and its counter; and Pakistan’s quest for NSG membership along with its energy needs.
For the last 72 years, Pakistan has been a western ally.Notwithstanding our decades old relationship with the West, we have had some ill memories, particularly regarding the US role in the region.
Sadly, despite India-Israel’s evil initiatives of destabilising Pakistan, and our continuing concerns in this regard, Washington never sustained our pleas; rather, it unjustifiably supported the anti-Pakistan Israeli and Indian policies in the region.
Moreover, though India violated international law in Kashmir by revoking the Kashmir special status in 2019, the West remained indifferent to the Indian transgressions of international law and HR atrocities in India-occupied Kashmir.
Notwithstanding the fact that during both Cold War and the Post-Cold war periods, Pakistan has remained a major western ally, the successive US Governments –Republican and Democratic demonstrated their diplomatic and strategic tilt towards India.
India remained US’s trustworthy partner while Pakistan did not receive a reciprocal response from the US policy quarters despite its heroic and exemplary role in the US-waged war on terror in Afghanistan.
There is no doubt in the western estimate that the US and most Western countries have traditionally dealt with Pakistan according to short-term interests.
The truth reveals that Pakistan has invested a lot in its partnership with the West, particularly the United States; yet unfortunately, it has harvested no triumphant results except blaming and a do more mantra.
And yet, there is growing consensus in Pakistan’s foreign policy quarters that given the evolving dynamics of a geopolitically and geo-economically-driven multipolar world order, Islamabad finds no pragmatic choice other than to move beyond our traditionally — set policy lines to the west.
Despite this backdrop, vive la difference, still, Pakistan’s policymakers seek to viably maintain our valuable, workable and sustainable partnership with the US and the EU.
Our relations with Germany, Belgium and Netherlands are noteworthy.Pakistan has sound bilateral relations with the United Kingdom.
Needless to say, Pakistan can hardly ignore its bilateral relations with Ukraine which were diplomatically started in 1992, while since 2018, Pakistan-Ukraine relations have moved from ‘’conventional diplomacy to public diplomacy’’.
Pakistan ardently believes that war is no alternative to diplomacy, thus it advocates for peaceful resolution of the Ukraine conflict.
“We have since repeatedly stressed the need for de-escalation, renewed negotiations, sustained dialogue and continuous diplomacy,” the Foreign Office said and added, “All efforts must be made to avoid further escalation of violence and loss of life as well as military, political and economic tensions which can pose an unprecedented threat to international peace and security and global economic stability’’.
Promoting international peace, stability and security remain the hallmark of Pakistan’s foreign policy.
Pakistan has always sustained the role of multilateral peace diplomacy on simmering global conflicts, and same remains the credo of our foreign policy on the Ukraine issue.
Objectively, Islamabad is highly justified in rebalancing its East-West relations while maintaining its neutrality.
Instead of bullying Pakistan, the West would have had a better choice — that in order to activate a synergy of preventive diplomacy— it could have reasonably solicited Islamabad to use its good offices to mend the fences between the West and Russia— as both China and Pakistan may jointly work in this regard.
Thanks to the EU’s diplomatic vision, Brussels has now realized the worth of this prescience — in a latest move, while adopting fidelity to diplomatic norms, it has asked Islamabad to act as a mediator vis-à-vis the Ukraine conflict.
In the same vein, without showing a double standard on the humanitarian issues, should the West not play its active peace role in Kashmir — a humanity bleeding spot in South Asia?
—The writer, an independent ‘IR’ researcher-cum-international law analyst based in Pakistan, is member of European Consortium for Political Research Standing Group on IR, Critical Peace & Conflict Studies, also a member of Washington Foreign Law Society and European Society of International Law.
