Mushahid Hussain has nicely summarised Pakistan’s historical roller coaster relationship with the US in this article.
Basically, Pakistan today faces pressures due to a credibility gap between pronouncements and practices. But Pakistani policy-makers need to realise that this is not the first time that Pakistan has faced pressures from Washington. These pressures can be combated with a combination of wisdom and courage that reverse the wrongs in policy while holding fast to vitals like the nuclear programme, which the President promised to strengthen in his speech.
How has Pakistan coped with similar pressures in the past?
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In November 1965, when President Ayub Khan met US President Johnson, he told him, responding to US pressures to distance from China, “if we break with the US, we will lose our economy, but if we break with China, we will lose our country”;
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In August 1976, Prime Minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto refused a deal offered by Dr. Henry Kissinger to give up the nuclear re-processing plant in lieu of 110 A-7 planes on offer from the US, despite Kissinger’s threat that the “Democrats will make a horrible example of Pakistan”;
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In October 1979, Foreign Minister Agha Shahi was told by the Americans in Washington that “if you persist with your nuclear programme, you will be entering the valley of death”;
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In November 1991, President Ghulam Ishaq Khan had such a blunt exchange with visiting US Under Secretary of State Reginald Bartholomew that the latter left the Presidency in a huff, while Army Chief General Wahid Kakar did similar plain talking to his American hosts during his Washington journey in March 1994;
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In May 1998, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif rejected President Clinton’s offer of up to $ 5 billion in assistance in return for not responding to the Indian nuclear tests. In his speech, the Musharraf’s prognosis revolved around meeting these challenges through two areas that he listed - the “strength of Pakistan’s defence and economy”.
By themselves, these are not good enough to meet such challenges. What the President missed out was the all-important area of politics - political stability, political consensus, political institutions, political will, backed naturally by deft diplomacy.
Finally, it is not just countering “perceptions” through media efforts. The situation is beyond spin control, requiring a well thought out strategy with specific steps on the ground.
Mushahid Hussain is a former Minister of Information and is currently a member of Pakistan’s Upper House, the Senate. He can be contacted at [email protected]