Pakistani Perceptions of President Clinton's visit

10 Apr, 2000    ·   348

Dr. Subhash Kapila provides a content analysis of Pakistani press coverage of the Clinton visit to South Asia
Dr. Subhash Kapila
President Clinton's visit this month to South Asia was the first ever in a quarter century by a US President. The global and regional security environment has dramatically changed since then and therefore, logically US perceptions and priorities in South Asia .

 

 

Clinton 's visit has been exhaustively covered by the press and electronic media in both countries. Regrettably the level of discussions was limited to scoring brownie points against each other. What was required was to grasp the perceptions that emerged in both countries after the visit to pave the way for future policies.

 

 

Pakistani perceptions should interest India as South Asia stands condemned to instability due to Pakistan 's obsession with achieving strategic parity with India . Pakistani perceptions, as emanating during PTV's day-long discussions on 25 March by a host of Pak Army Generals, Ambassadors, strategic analysts and foreign policy experts are outlined below. 

 

 

Pakistan 's importance to USA

 

 

The more hawkish discussants came out with blunt statements to emphasis Pakistani’s importance to USA :

 

 

a) USA must recognise that Pakistan has changed. It is a nuclear power now.

 

 

b) Pakistan is a pivotal requirement for US policies in the Middle East and Central Asia .

 

 

c) The USA has clubbed Pakistan with other  the Muslims countries , Iran , Libya , Sudan , whom it accuses of supporting terrorism. However, Pakistan is the only state which USA has access to for a political dialogue.

 

 

d) If USA wants substantive engagement in South Asia , it can ill-afford to have a close strategic relationship with India . 

 

 

New Realities in South Asia

 

 

The United States ’ tilt towards India has emerged as the new reality in South Asia . Pakistan must reassess its position to this new reality wherein US geo-economics have replaced geopolitics and geostrategic considerations in the latter part of the post Cold war era. Unfortunately, in Pakistan , previous mind sets of the Cold War still persist. This will have to change. 

 

 

United States ’ Debt to Pakistan  

 

 

Pakistanis have made many sacrifices for the USA and helped it in many ways, namely:

 

 

1. Pakistani sacrifices in Afghanistan led to the defeat of the Soviets in Afghanistan and which enabled USA to emerge as the global unipolar power.

 

 

2. Pakistan bridged the relations between USA and China and thereby assisted in upsetting the triangular power balance.

 

 

3. Pakistan did all of the above at the cost of isolation in the Muslim World.

 

 

Pakistan , therefore, expects a better deal from the USA .

 

 

Kashmir

 

 

All shades of Pakistani opinion were unanimous on Kashmir . Common perceptions were:

 

 

1. Clinton was wrong in airing his views on Kashmir without discussions in Pakistan .

 

 

2. Downgrading Kashmir in the US agenda would serve no purpose as the issue defines Pak-India relations. 

 

 

3. The Kashmir problem cannot be set aside by the USA for the sake of economic expediency.

 

 

4. US economic involvement/investments in India cannot take place against the backdrop of a disturbed security environment in Kashmir .

 

 

5. The USA can ill-afford to go against the entire world opinion favoring Pakistan on Kashmir .

 

 

An over-riding fear being perceived that was USA might lessen its involvement in the Kashmir issue, leave mediation aside.

 

 

Pak-US Relations after the end of Cold War

 

 

Uneasiness and tension was perceived in bilateral relations as evident from the following remarks:

 

 

1. Ever since end of Cold war, US approach to Pakistan has been one of an unending round of sanctions.

 

 

2. More areas of divergence have appeared than those of convergence.

 

 

It was emphasized that Clinton 's visit to Pakistan was the last chance for the USA to grasp Pakistani perceptions on the core issue, failing which Pakistan too could be forced to re-define its priorities.

 

 

Indo-US Relations

 

 

1. The United States has made up its mind on the centres of power in the world - Israel , India , Japan , Taiwan and Australia . Hence, the tilt towards India

 

 

2. USA will increasingly accord India a 'Monroe Doctrine' status in South Asia .

 

 

3. While Clinton took pains to try and nurture a special relationship with India , the Indian side was not equally responsive. 

 

 

Pakistan 's Future Options

 

 

The hawkish opinions expressed dissatisfaction with Clionton's airing pronouncements on Pakistan and perceived that the time had come for Pakistan to re-orient its policies towards USA . The recommendations made were:

 

 

1. Pakistan should look westwards to its Islamic neighbours in the Gulf region and Middle East .

 

 

2. Pakistan should explore a new non-US Centric security arrangement. 

 

 

3. Amongst the major global powers, China offers the only consolation for Pakistan .

 

 

Concluding Observations

 

 

Overall, the Pakistanis were disillusioned with Clinton 's statements in India on core issues of concern to Pakistan . They contrasted this with his statements made in USA before his departure. Noticing the tilt, the Pakistanis believed that Clinton was not coming to Pakistan for a dialogue as his mind was already made up.

 

 

There was an undercurrent of despair that the USA tilting towards India , recognising that it is an emerging and an attractive market for the USA- considerations for which Pakistan is ill-placed to offer alternative inducements. 

 

 

 

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