Asia Times: Pakistan needs to catch the drift


	April 25, 2002	atimes.com

India/Pakistan

Pakistan needs to catch the drift
By Mushahid Hussain

ISLAMABAD - The opening of a European Union-Mediterranean Conference in Spain this week marks the second major initiative by the EU this year to move closer to a foreign policy approach that is more broad-based and certainly no longer America-centric. The first was the EU-Organization of Islamic Conference foreign ministers meeting in Istanbul in February.

Perhaps moved more by the unilateral, lopsided direction of America's war on terrorism, for the first time in three decades these reflect the broad contours of a European foreign policy that are fast becoming apparent on the international political horizon. Separate but related developments testify to this emerging European outlook that is keen to carve an independent approach on relations with issues concerning Muslims and the Islamic world.

In 1966, French president General Charles de Gaulle took the first initiative for a European foreign affairs approach at variance to that of the United States on such issues as the French military role in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the recognition of the People's Republic of China, and the Middle East. In 1970, West German chancellor Willy Brandt initiated his "Ostpolitik" or the eastern policy, which sought a cautious opening toward the communist countries of Eastern Europe, including East Germany. Both these European statesmen were not popular in Washington given the Cold War of that period, where similar lines were sought to be drawn on a "them" and "us" basis vis-a-vis communism, as is being done today toward terrorism.

European sensitivity to Muslim concerns is evident from three key developments in the past week.

First, the decision of EU foreign ministers, meeting in Luxembourg last week, to send their highest foreign-policy official, Javier Solana, next month to "ease Pakistan-India tensions over Kashmir". Like Palestine, this is an unresolved dispute that affects Muslims in the disputed state of Kashmir, in what is clearly the first-ever European diplomatic initiative of its kind toward South Asia.

Second, in a major public opinion poll released on April 17 by the International Herald Tribune, there was a wide gap in European and American perceptions regarding the Palestine-Israeli conflict. The overwhelming majority of French, British, German and Italian public opinion support the Palestinians against Israel, unlike the United States where support for Israel runs twice as high as empathy for Palestinians.

Third, history is also catching up with Europe over crimes committed against Muslims in the Bosnian conflict. On April 16, the Dutch government of Prime Minister Wim Kok tendered its resignation after a report of the July 1995 massacre in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, where 7,500 Muslim men and boys were massacred by the Serbs under the watchful eyes of Dutch United Nations peacekeepers who failed to protect them, despite Srebrenica being declared a UN "safe haven". This is generally regarded as the worst atrocity in Europe since World War II.

Countries in the region where Pakistan is located are also sensitive to these significant changes in the political complexion of the region. Saudi Arabia, for instance, has called for the European Union to play a more active role in the Middle East, while enlisting Russian support as well after a visit to Moscow last week by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al Faisal.

Last Saturday, during a visit to Iran by Chinese President Jiang Zemin, Beijing and Tehran jointly rejected efforts for "hegemony in the region", a reference to the United States.

But Pakistan perhaps is oblivious to changes that are taking place, preferring as in the past to put all its eggs only in the "American basket". No lessons have been learned from past mistakes, when for the greater part of two decades beginning in 1980, Pakistan had an Afghan-centric policy. This was highlighted by first, the "joint jihad" with the Americans until 1989, when Washington ditched Pakistan after the Red Army's defeat and exit from Afghanistan. Then, from 1989-2001, Pakistan tried to fashion its own Afghan policy, ditching friends and replacing favorites until Pakistan was stuck with the Taliban. These had disastrous consequences for the Pakistani state, amid virtual isolation among its friends in the region.

Pakistan's relations with Russia are illustrative of this mindset, one where ground realities have changed but Islamabad treats Russia as if it were still a Cold War adversary. Yet Russia's relations with former adversaries like China and Iran have grown after the break-up of the Soviet Union.

Instead of making foreign policy an appendage of US interests and objectives in the region - some of which are at variance with Pakistan's own interests - Islamabad needs to join the growing consensus among Europeans and Arabs on key issues. These include Palestine, the Israeli government's atrocities, and the "axis of evil" that US President George W Bush conjured up in January.

And despite what UN special envoy Terje Roed-Larsen on April 17 denounced as a "morally repugnant ... horrific" spectacle after the Israeli operation in the Jenin refugee camp, Bush the next day called Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon "a man of peace". It is then perhaps no accident that, in response to popular opinion, Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak, a close US ally, snubbed visiting US Secretary of State Colin Powell by declining to meet him during his Cairo visit this month.

Clearly, a yawning chasm has emerged between US policy toward the Muslim world and perceptions among Europeans and Muslims. This cleavage is likely to widen as the United States seeks to expand the war on terrorism in the coming months, this time with possible action against Iraq.

It is high time that Pakistan took cognizance of these developments so that it is in sync with its own interests, as well as Muslim opinion. For starters, Islamabad needs to focus its diplomacy more on Europe and the Arab world rather than relying on US support alone.

In any case, the emergence of a European foreign policy, together with the increasingly activist role of China and an assertive Arab world, are pointers to probable challenges to the world view and policies of the world's now sole superpower, the United States, as it seeks to dictate a direction in the war on terrorism that other emerging power centers may find difficult to accept.

(Inter Press Service)