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| Decoding General Raheel Sharif's US Visit ! | | | Nilesh Kunwar | 11/25/2015 12:39:13 AM |
| Being the head of Pakistan army's Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) is a difficult job as more often than not he has to defend the indefensible. Luckily, the public's gullibility and short memory is a silver lining that makes the task of the ISPR chief easy. Take for example the Kargil intrusions of 1999. The people of Pakistan were fed the lies that those who had crossed the Line of Control (LoC) and occupied Indian territory were "Kashmiri mujahideens" and they believed it. But even after Pakistani army's lie was exposed, it continued to fool its people and even though the truth was known to everyone Pakistan army remained in its state of denial and refused to accept the dead bodies of its valiant soldiers.
Presently we are again witnessing ISPR chief Major General Asim Bajwa trying his level best to showcase army chief General Raheel Sharif's recently concluded US visit as a big success. Regrettably, in the process of trying to create an impressive narrative, the ISPR chief has unknowingly revealed the futility of this trip. To start with, the ISPR chief should have advised the army chief to reconsider his 'self- invite' to Washington and the timings of his visit. There was nothing so urgent that warranted the Pakistan army chief 'inviting himself' to visit Washington when the country's Prime Minister had just returned from there after holding comprehensive talks less than a month ago. Though Major General Bajwa may not admit it but I'm sure in his heart he too knows that from the public relations point of view General Sharif's visit has been a disaster! For one, the suddenness with which General Sharif's US visit was announced created the ideal environment for rumour-mongering and unnecessarily rekindled the age old debate as to who is really in-charge of things in Pakistan! Then, coming just after PM Sharif's US visit, it gave an impression that the army chief was in such a tearing hurry to go to the US as either the PM had failed to forcefully convey something of utmost national importance or that the US had been extremely inconsiderate or unfair on some vital issue concerning Pakistan.Therefore the media cannot be blamed for speculating that General Sharif had some really serious concerns that prompted him to break protocol and rush to the US. The first such issue was believed to be about the role of Indian spy agency RAW's in "whipping up terror" inside Pakistan. Evidence of New Delhi's culpability was put together in what was loosely referred to the "Indian Dossiers."These dossiers were three in number and had been handed over to the US State department during PM Sharif's visit. But US Secretary of State John Kerry's ambiguous reply on this issue during a subsequent media interaction probably gave an impression that PM Sharif may have failed to impress upon Washington that this vital document needs to be given the due importance that it deserves. Furthermore, since the "Indian dossiers" have been scripted by the Pakistan army and it's ISI, there was much at stake on this issue for General Sharif!
It was also assumed that General Sharif may have felt that Washington telling PM Sharif that in its war on terror Pakistan needed to do much more against the Haqqani network, Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) was unfair. The Pakistan army has been entering into Faustian deals with Uncle Sam right since the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the Haqqani network as also the LeT have been Pakistan army's proxies for decades and this fact was never hidden from Washington. Nonetheless what the Pakistan army has not been able to reconcile to is the fact that due to the changed situation where both these 'strategic assets' have become threats to the US , Washington will not allow Rawalpindi to have double standards while fighting terror. In a post visit announcement Major General Bajwa has stated that the focus of General Sharif's visit was on Pak-US relations, military to military ties, regional security and the Afghanistan situation. This is certainly confusing since if this was the case then the visit was just a routine one and hence where was the urgency for General Sharif to thrust himself upon Washington? However the ISPR chief' remark that, "The meetings provided us with an opportunity to present Pakistan's perspective clearly and forcefully and we did that" is important as it confirms that the speculation of PM Sharif being unable to "present Pakistan's perspective clearly and forcefully" was not ill-founded.
Major General Bajwa has made some absolutely conflicting statements that once again are bound to liven up the rumour mills. The ISPR chief has confirmed that during his US visit General Sharif has discussed Kashmir as it was the 'key dispute' and needed to be resolved for bringing peace and stability to the region. He has however said that the "Indian Dossiers" were not discussed by the Pakistan army chief since "It is an issue that is tackled by the embassy at appropriate levels." This is where the confusion arises and gives people good reasons to believe that something is being hidden from the public. If discussing Kashmir was necessary for 'bringing peace and stability to the region', then isn't the same true when it comes to RAW inciting terrorism inside Pakistan?
Can there ever be 'peace and stability in the region' if New Delhi is really doing what the "Indian Dossiers" allege? Is terrorism supposedly being whipped up by RAW in which hundreds are being killed not something that requires immediate attention? Or is it a minor issue that can be "tackled by the embassy at appropriate levels" and resolved at a leisurely pace? Will the erudite Major General Bajwa please care to explain that if the Pakistan army is certain and has evidence to prove that Indian spy agency RAW has the blood of thousands of innocent Pakistanis on its hands, then why has General Raheel Sharif let New Delhi off the hook by not discussing this during his Washington visit? |
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