South Asian Scholars Spotlight Climate, Economic Issues
By Elaine Pasquini
Washington, DC: On November 3, the Stimson Center hosted an online discussion on climate change,
US-Pakistan cooperation, Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) deliverables and diaspora politics.
Kashoon Leeza, editorial and advocacy specialist at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute, discussed her work on revitalizing Pakistan’s economic cooperation with the United States. “It’s a known fact that US-Pakistan relations have been security-centric and over the past two decades…was focused largely on Afghanistan,” she said. Since the US military withdrawal from Afghanistan, “for the relationship to sustain in the long-term it must build on shared interest-based interaction.”
Chinese economic presence in Pakistan is increasingly raising concerns in Washington, which, according to some experts, limits investment opportunities for US firms, Leeza explained. “Pakistan has not been an attractive investment destination for [US] investments initially due to security conditions and… administrative hurdles such as bureaucratic red tape and inconsistent taxation policies.”
Pakistan is an emerging market for the tech and clean energy sector and for development of solar and wind projects. In these ventures, US companies could
capitalize on a 300,000 English-speaking IT talent base, she pointed out.
Presently, given that Pakistan and the US are at a political impasse, the shift from geopolitics to geo-economics must be driven by the private sector, Leeza explained.
In her policy brief, Jyotsna Mehra, consultant at India’s Ministry of External Affairs, outlined the policy of the Quad partnership of India, Japan, Australia and the United States, which was created in 2004. While the group initially focused on China, there is a view in Quad capitals that since the Biden administration took over the focus is now on more global issues. “But…discussions around the Quad still have a lot to do with China even if they do not explicitly say so,” Mehra stated.
Health care, emerging technology, defense and security are areas of interest to the Quad, she said. The group has already set ambitious health security targets and will look at health supply chains especially in the field of pharmaceutical ingredients.
In addition, climate change, intelligence sharing and forming a defense minister’s forum should be addressed in the future, Mehra added.
On technology, the Quad has worked on developing a statement of principles on technology design that could form the foundation of agreed upon principles and a common narrative that the Quad could push at organizations that look at tech standards.
Muhsin Puthan Purayil, PhD candidate in political science at Hyderabad University, addressed the issue of India’s public diplomacy through diaspora engagement. This participation through non-governmental means is aimed at building “people-to-people ties and influencing public opinions in order to influence their government policies,” he explained.
Since the Modi government’s inclusion of diaspora engagement as part of its public diplomacy, significant efforts have been brought to political, institutional and policy levels, he said, describing the diaspora as “new public diplomats” who are expected to engage their host society, political elites and opinion makers on critical matters related to foreign affairs and policies related to India.
But, people divided along strong party ideological rationales are challenging each other’s views through competing narratives, he said. So, consequently, “we have fragmented narratives coming out on certain policies, instead of a cohesive narrative,” Purayil lamented.
Kashif Hussain, research associate at Islamabad’s Strategic Studies Institute, spoke on the challenges of climate change and prospects for conflict resolutions, specifically in the mountain communities. Presently, Pakistan is finalizing a law granting Gilgit-Baltistan provisional provincial status, which India has contested.
The world’s largest glacier system outside of Greenland and Antarctica is in the Karakoram range of the Himalayas, which extend from the Wakhan Corridor in Afghanistan to the India-administered territory of Ladakh.
The Indus River and its tributaries, directly or indirectly, provide fresh water to almost two billion people across Pakistan, Afghanistan, India and China, Hussain said. About 15 percent of these glaciers have already melted since the 1970s and are continuing to diminish. “Decrease of the original ice mass can significantly effect irrigation, agriculture, tourism, hydroelectric speed, drinking water, catastrophic plagues and cross border conflicts,” he explained. “The rising temperature to two degree Celsius will leave half of these glaciers melted.”
Gilgit-Baltistan’s abundance of rivers and streams are a tourism destination for hikers and nature lovers, along with lofty mountains, lakes, pasture, unique culture and historical sites. The province is home to all five of Pakistan’s “eight-thousanders,” mountains that are more than 8,000 meters in height.
Its strategic location between China, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan makes it a connecting point to Central Asia, Southeast Asia and South Asia, and offers extraordinary opportunities, he enthused. “The region could be an area of focus for regional and global actors to share steps to help foster a cooperative environment and direct energies towards mitigating effects of climate change by undertaking sustainable development initiatives.”
Gilgit-Baltistan has acquired importance since the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor – Chinese President Xi Jinping’s global infrastructure plan known as the Belt and Road Initiative – connects Gwadar Port with China’s Xinjiang province.
“I recommend the creation of new offices to work simultaneously on conflict and climate under local governments,” Hussain said. Think tanks could help devise policies for these newly created offices and “a priority should be to find consensus to declare this entire area an economic free zone. This would be a confidence-building measure between the countries to reduce tensions.”
Authority should be given to indigenous people because “for seven decades the international community failed to reach any solution for this vital region rich in natural resources, especially water,” Hussain said. “There is a need for a solution and for that locals and indigenous must be empowered. Cooperation would help resolve the disputed border wars by creating workable solutions and help devise holistic solutions to all of these environmental issues.”
(Elaine Pasquini is a freelance journalist. Her reports appear in the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs and Nuze.Ink.)
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