| November 4, 2003 | Tuesday | Ramazan 8, 1424 |
One man’s consent
Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri’s visit to Brussels this week comes at a critical time in European Union relations with Asia as the bloc’s policymakers forge ahead with plans to upgrade ties with key Asian countries, including China, India and members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
Kasuri, who will visit EU headquarters on Nov 5-6, will find most of his interlocuters, including EU foreign and security policy chief Javier Solana and Chris Patten, European Commissioner for External Relations eager to listen to Pakistan’s views on relations with India, Afghanistan and the fight against terrorism.
Expected to be on top of the agenda in Brussels is Pakistan’s regional role following Indian allegations of continuing cross-border infiltration into Kashmir and charges by the Afghan government that Taliban fighters are getting Pakistani support to re-enter southern Afghanistan.
Mr Kasuri will also be asked to give a detailed reaction to recent Indian proposals for a range of confidence-building measures to improve bilateral relations.
Direct people-to-people contacts can “go a long way to overcome misperceptions, misunderstandings and prejudices,” Mr Patten said in a recent statement on India-Pakistan relations, adding that the two countries must use the Indian initiative to enter into a “genuine dialogue.”
Domestic politics in Pakistan remain another thorny issue with EU governments uneasy at the army’s continuing predominant role in the country, increasing sectarian violence, human rights, especially the rights of women and minorities and the rise of fundamentalist groups.
Mr Kasuri’s answers will help determine whether EU-Pakistan ties will continue to stagnate in a diplomatic no-man’s land or whether the two sides will finally hammer out a new and more ambitious agenda to upgrade relations.
The visit is well-timed. After months of internal debate, many EU governments have come to the conclusion that it is time to give a much-needed boost to a relationship whose full potential remains largely undeveloped and unexplored. “Many of us want EU-Pakistan ties to move forward and believe this is the right time to revisit the relationship,” an EU diplomat told Dawn.
Securing parliamentary ratification of an upgraded EU-Pakistan agreement is clearly of prime importance. The European Parliament has put its ratification of the Nov 2001 agreement on hold pending a new assessment of Pakistan’s democratic credentials — especially the role of the National Assembly and the relationship between the army and politicians as well as relations with India and Afghanistan.
Many EU governments as well as the European Commission are hoping to secure parliamentary support for the agreement which they say will help put relations between the two sides on a firm footing.
But while the accord will provide a much-needed permanent and stable framework for EU-Pakistan relations, achieving a real improvement in ties will require strong and sustained efforts by both sides.
For Pakistan, this means a new look at a rapidly-evolving and expanding EU which is no longer merely an important aid donor and a vital market for its textile and carpet exports but could also become a strategic political and diplomatic ally.
However, Islamabad faces tough competition in its bid to draw closer to Europe. EU governments are forging ahead with a more forceful foreign policy which includes stepped-up efforts to reinforce relations with China, India and Asean.
While EU-Pakistan relations remain business-like and EU diplomats stress Pakistan’s pivotal role in the region and the wider Islamic world — Pakistan is clearly the missing link in Europe’s drive to forge stronger political and economic ties with key Asian powers.
China and India are working especially hard to woo Europe. An EU-China summit held in Beijing last week heralded the start of what diplomats on both sides call a “strategic partnership” and EU leaders will go to Delhi on Nov 29 for an equally important EU-India meeting.
In what EU officials describe as a major diplomatic triumph for Europe, China has announced that it will be participating in Galileo, the EU’s satellite navigation system which is set to rival America’s global positioning system in the next decade. Not to be left behind, India has said it too is considering joining Galileo.
India is also making a determined drive to upgrade its political ties with the EU. Recent discussions in Brussels between Foreign Minister Yashwant Sinha and senior EU officials focused not only on Pakistan and Kashmir but also Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq and the Middle East as well as Europe’s new security doctrine and action programme to eliminate weapons of mass destruction.
Mr Sinha also used his visit to Brussels to insist that while China may be grabbing the lion’s share of European trade in Asia, India was also well placed to transform itself into a rival investment destination.
Most of Delhi’s overtures have been warmly received by an EU anxious to upgrade its presence in Asia. But India remains unhappy at the EU’s failure to take sides over the Kashmir conflict, insisting that the bloc cannot remain impartial in the face of terror attacks against Indian targets. EU efforts to raise human rights issues with New Delhi have also caused tensions in relations.
Unwilling to be caught in the middle, EU policymakers insist that instead of seeking foreign allies to press their case, India and Pakistan must tone down their rhetoric and take small steps to establish good neighbourly relations.
REFERRING to the recent provincial chief ministers’ meeting in Lahore, Kawish criticizes Sindh Chief Minister Ali Mohammad Mahar for consenting to the construction of water reservoirs which in the present circumstances, it says, means approval of the controversial Kalabagh dam. By doing so, the chief minister has failed to represent the Sindh Assembly which is led by him, the paper asserts.
The daily says that no chief minister has any right to make a unilateral decision on any controversial issue. Therefore the ‘consent’ of Mr Mahar, which is based on his own political opportunism and not the will of the people of his province, cannot be taken as approval by Sindh.
Those supporting the Kalabagh dam project, Kawish proposes, should resign and make it the central issue of their election campaign. If they succeed in returning to the assemblies, only then can they claim that they have a mandate to back the project.
The paper concludes by pointing out that the CMs’ meeting had no constitutional status and it had no authority to approve any disputed project.
Sindhu takes note of the meeting of the opposition leaders of four provinces that followed the CMs’ gathering. It says that after the declaration by the opposition leaders that the construction of Kalabagh dam without a consensus would be harmful for national unity, no moral justification is left for the project.
Commenting on the rising graph of suicides, Awami Awaz writes that the phenomenon reflects growing economic, social and political tensions. It says that joblessness and price hike, which force people to take their lives in despair, are a result of policies adopted by the government on the dictates of international financial institutions.
The daily says that in the name of globalization, which is a misnomer for world capitalism, the multinationals are ruling the world and through the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, they are forcing countries to adopt policies aimed at protecting their monopoly. As a result, local industries are dying and the tariff for basic utilities is touching the sky.
Tameer-i-Sindh comments on the murder of a villager one hour after a court had allowed him and his fiancee to marry against the will of their families and writes that
the incident once again highlights the law’s helplessness and the failure of the administration to uphold the writ of law. It says that the prevailing conditions call for a change which can only be brought about through a social revolution.