News
Friday, August 24, 2012
US, Pakistan should stop pretence of alliance: Haqqami* Former ambassador urges probe into bin Laden's presence in Pakistan
* Pakistan's national interests are defined ‘by generals, not by civilian leaders’
By Our Correspondent
WASHINGTON: Former ambassador to the United States Husain Haqqani has called upon the United States to respect Pakistani public opinion and stop expecting to change Pakistan’s regional policies through non-transparent means.
Speaking to an elite audience of journalists, think tank scholars, opinion makers and government officials at a luncheon in Washington held by the Center for the National Interest, Professor Haqqani said that America and Pakistan should no longer put up the pretence that they are allies.
Haqqani said that it is unrealistic to believe that “endless discussions and chats and what I call the clash of narratives will somehow, some day produce a change of thinking either in Washington” or Islamabad.
According to Haqqani, realism dictated a fresh approach in US-Pakistan relations.
“The US isn’t going to be convinced to treat India as an enemy for Pakistan’s sake and Pakistan won’t be convinced to give up its nuclear weapons or end its support for jihadi groups it sees as strategically beneficial for regional influence because America wants it to,” he said.
“So the future of US-Pakistan relations is what I call a post-alliance future,” Haqqani explained.
“If in 65 years, you haven't been able to find sufficient common ground to live together, and you had three separations and four reaffirmations of marriage, then maybe the better way is to find friendship outside of the marital bond.”
Arguing that the US tries to use aid to Pakistan as leverage in trying to force behaviour change on Pakistan’s part, Haqqani said, “The behaviour change is not going to come unless and until there is behaviour change on your part. So you should stop the meddling... you have to stop going in and seeing all our politicians and thinking they are all your friends and trying to influence. Make Pakistanis realise that America has an interest in Pakistan, but you know what, America respects Pakistani opinion. Show respect for Pakistani public opinion. And if Pakistanis don’t want to be your friends, you don’t want to be their friends, thank you very much.”
Haqqani said, “Now stop thinking of each other as allies. That will give Pakistan flexibility in terms of being able to do certain things which may or may not be approved by the United States, but the people in Pakistan who always claim our sovereignty is most important, they will be able to exercise that sovereignty, but then they will also have to bear the responsibility for that sovereignty.”
America, in turn, will be freer to institute more coercive measures against Pakistan, without being accused of betrayal because charges of betrayal do not apply if the two parties are not allies to begin with, Haqqani said.
“I am nowadays proposing that it is time for both countries to recognise that the convergence in interest that is needed for two countries to be allies does not exist at this point,” Haqqani explained, adding that such a relationship between the US and Pakistan wouldn’t mean the two couldn’t “work together in areas we can work together”.
Haqqani also said Pakistan needs to form a commission to thoroughly investigate who knew al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was hiding in Pakistan because “somebody knew [it]”.
“If a huge mafia operation is found in New York, it’s not necessary that the New York police was helping them run their operation, but it is essential that the New York police come clean on why did they fail to find it,” he said.
“It is Pakistan’s responsibility to the world to say who did it? Who? Doesn’t matter. It doesn’t have to be the government, it doesn’t have to be the ISI, it doesn’t have to be the military and I say that again and again. It may be private individuals. But whoever it is, we need to come clean on that because that is the only way we will reassure the rest of the world that the Pakistan government and the Pakistan state has its hands clean in relation to this whole thing.”
Haqqani said Pakistan's military needed to be under greater civilian control, adding Pakistan's national interests are defined “by generals, not by civilian leaders”.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk