US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucherís visit to Pakistan had somewhat inconsequential impact on the bilateral ties of the two countries as the US official had come on a ‘fact-finding’ mission and to make an assessment of the outcome of the visit of President Asif Ali Zardari across the Karakuram.
He has been talking tough on a number of counts and the reasons are quite understandable. No tangible announcement was made by him to redeem Pakistan from its current imbroglio except a ìwarningî on the account of hobnobbing with extremists. ìIt was a glaring example of carrot and stick policy of Washington,î a source said.
Diplomatic sources reminded that it was a rare phenomenon that an official of assistant secretary level was visiting the region without a great urgency in the days when the whole administration was engaged in wrapping up. He was afforded opportunity to have meetings with the president, the prime minister, the minister for foreign affairs, the governor and the chief minister of the NWFP separately in a row as they were ìanxiouslyî waiting for his arrival.
The primary purpose of the visit, as stated by the State Department, was to streamline the meetings of the Friends of Pakistan Forum (FOP) but his engagements were hovered around the officials of the Interior Ministry and Advisor to the Prime Minister on Interior Rehman Malik. Malik is a favourite of the West and especially of the United States.
US Ambassador in Pakistan Anne W Patterson, who was in Washington last week, dashed to Islamabad to join her colleague in the meetings as she has been tracking all such activities vigorously.
It has been observed that Indians and Americans alike keen to have the inside whenever any high-profile contact takes place between Pakistan and China. New Delhi and Washington are also having their nose inside the in-camera session of parliament here and they are also watching the scope of dialogue between the militants and the government.
The US administration is opposed to any negotiations between the Taliban and the government while it is prepared to have the same exercise in Afghanistan. “If Pakistani troops continue to fight with the Taliban, the US would continue to support Pakistan with sophisticated weapons and help it in overcoming the financial difficulties but an action contrary to this would expose Islamabad with the threat of a cut in fiscal and military assistance. Not only this, the International Monitory Fund (IMF) option could also become a difficult proposition for Pakistan,” Boucher reportedly conveyed this message to the Pakistani authorities.
Diplomatic observers are of the view that Pakistan should have been stubborn on its position with regard to the incursions by the US troops in the tribal areas. PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif did not mince words while expressing his mind on the subject. He was strong enough to convey Pakistan’s anger on the attacks. The same should have been the line of the government. Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani did try to talk in the same tongue, the sources opined.
The diplomatic sources are of the view that the visitors from the West are coming to Islamabad one after other and they will carry forward the message Richard Boucher was carrying. It is not new but an old tactics of the US and the West. Pakistan is already in the process of financial meltdown and facing the economic crisis of the worst order. It would be the test of the elected leadership’s nerves and wisdom of the new economic mangers.
ìPakistan has already fulfilled most of the conditionality of the IMF. If a favourable package is not offered, it would imply that the Fund is playing role of tool in the hands of the administration in Washington,î a source said.
Richard Boucher, who has completed his last trip to the region with the incumbent administration, is expected to report his boss before the end of the week. His report could play a little role in softening the financial redeemers sitting in Washington.
Pakistan will have to find a home-grown solution to deal with the odd situation since China and Saudi Arabia both have agreed to join the FPF although the proposition is not a dignified option for Pakistan since such groups were used to set up for the black and backward African tiny states in past, the sources reminded with pain.