By Denise Marray/London
Dr Maleeha Lodhi, a former ambassador of Pakistan to the US and Britain, has called on the United States to show “greater understanding” in its relations with Pakistan.Speaking at the Asian Homeland Security and Counter Terror Summit in London, she felt relations between the two countries were now “in a state of paralysis”.South Asia has been the focus of the three-day summit which concludes today.Speaking on the subject, “Pakistan: beyond the crisis state”, Dr Lodhi urged the US to invest greater understanding in the relationship with her country. Responding to a question from delegate, Khalid Nadeem, chairman, South Asia and Middle East Forum, about the current status of US-Pakistan relations, she used two famous songs to illustrate her view. First, she cited the Beatles’ Money can’t buy me love. “Friendship is not quantified in dollars and cents – it’s about respect,” she said. She added that in her view, President Barack Obama had not followed up on the promising statements made in his inaugural speech.The second song she quoted was Elton John’s Sorry seems to be the hardest word. Referring to the November 2011 Nato airstrike which killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, she said the failure of the US to apologise was “shameful”. Responding to the opening speech made at the security conference by British MP, Jack Straw, who served as foreign secretary in Tony Blair’s government during the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, she asked: “What have you gained?”She was serving as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US at the time of the 9/11 attacks, and she recalled the advice of her country. “We said, ‘Don’t go to war in Afghanistan. Don’t become an army of occupation – make a distinction between the Taliban and Al Qaeda – the Taliban didn’t attack you.” Now she said, 11 years later, and on the point of withdrawing its forces, the US and its allies had finally come to the same conclusion.To save face she said, “Pakistan has been made the alibi for Western failures in Afghanistan”. The 9/11 US led military intervention in Afghanistan had, she said, “intensified violent threats to Pakistan’s heartland”. Clearly frustrated by the way events have unfolded she added: “We didn’t initiate the two wars in Afghanistan. You have tried to secure your security at the expense of others security. You will isolate and lose Pakistan if you demonise Pakistan.”Looking at the internal politics of Pakistan, she said there was an urgent need for “democracy with rule of law” in the country. In her view the peoples’ faith in democracy is “alive and well” especially in light of the “rise of a more assertive middle class” and greater engagement through social media. “Our diverse and vibrant civil society and media is trying to hold the powerful to account”, she noted. However, she added, “We have not done well on governance.” She saw the need for “a whole government approach to combat terrorism”, and “a rebalancing of powers between the Parliament, judiciary and military”.Finally, she said, “the deteriorating economy, fiscal deficits and unsustainable debt had a critical bearing on the fight against terror.” Today, she concluded, the majority of citizens were more preoccupied with concerns about inflation, jobs and education than combating terror.G Parthasarathy, former high commissioner of India to Pakistan, Australia and Cyprus, said in his speech: “Indian foreign policy is no longer Pakistan centric. We have a bigger, larger vision into which we hope Pakistan will fit. If it doesn’t – so be it. We don’t care.”Paying tribute to the thwarted efforts of Pervez Musharraf, president of Pakistan from 2001 – 2008, in trying to secure a framework for peace, he said: “I hope we can get back to where we were in 2007 in terms of a negotiation.”He said that for India to maintain its GDP growth rate, there was a need to focus on developing trade links through Free Trade Agreements. “We’ve left the door open for Pakistan to join in,” he said.He noted the importance of China as a trading partner, noting that India had also held joint military exercises with the Chinese. He added that Iran was also welcomed as a trading partner: “It has to be a regional solution including Iran,” he stated. He also wanted to see “an economically prosperous” Afghanistan.”In his belief, he said, “Economic integration in the region is the answer.”