Riaz Khokhar's remarks may be bad diplomacy but they suit Pakistani designs perfectly
BEING at the centre of a storm is not new for Pakistan's High Commissioner to India Riaz Khokhar. He thrives on it and knows that everytime he abuses India, criticises its Kashmir policy or, like in the recent interview, attacks the proposed elections in Jammu and Kashmir and says he hasn't discovered India's foreign policy in his four years in Delhi, he gets away with it. In fact, he gets a lot of mileage out of it and comes across as a hero back home.
The former Pakistan high commissioner, Abdus Sattar, had first tried this technique and it worked wonderfully. Khokhar has turned it into an art. And what does the Congress and the foreign policy establishment have to say? Virtually nothing. Foreign Secretary Salman Haider summoned him to express India's indignation over his outburst. But Khokhar rejected India's protests. And his foreign office naturally stood by him.
Khokhar crossed all diplomatic limits and violated all diplomatic niceties. But then he has been doing it for a long time and is adept at it. Why is the Indian Government in a flap over his statement that elections in Kashmir are farcical, and for generally berating the Indian foreign policy establishment? What could be Khokhar's motive in openly attacking New Delhi, something which a western diplomat said was "very improper"?
바카라 웹사이트The answer to the first question is that the timing of his comments was inopportune for the ruling party. It is election time and every party jumped onto the bandwagon to condemn Khokhar. But the Congress came out looking foolish. After all, it was the ruling party's foreign policy that he savaged.
The answer to the second question is obvious. It reflects Pakistan's desperation over the proposed elections in Kashmir, which it fears, once held, will be accepted by the world community. According to a Pakistani foreign policy expert, the anxiety in Pakistani circles is that the international community might not react to the 'negative' aspects of the 'dubious' elections.
He said India would try its best to sell the idea that the democratic process has begun and, hence, harp on the fact that representatives of the Kashmiri people have come to Parliament. "The Pakistani print media, in general, has not been as vocal as it might have been. For, it still thinks the elections will lack the basic element of freedom of choice, which they think is enough to turn the international opinion once again against India," he noted. But fears are being expressed in Pakistan that India will manage a 10 per cent vote and get away with it at the international level.
What Khokhar said was not something new. But saying it on Indian soil has a different effect. The PMO and the Ministry of External Affairs, both located in South Block, have traditionally tried to keep a straight face whenever they find themselves in such situations with Pakistan. Khokhar's tantrum, South Block argues, is like the water off a duck's back, as far as India is concerned. Says an official:바카라 웹사이트"Are we going to give Kashmir to them? No. Are we going to put off elections because Pakistan says so? No. Let him carry on with his antics. Pakistan has boxed itself into a corner over Kashmir and such antics will not help. You remember what happened to Pakistan's ambassador to Singapore? He was snubbed by Singapore's prime minister when he asked Prime Minister Narasimha Rao some question on Kashmir. If Pakistan's ultimate objective is to get Kashmir, this will surely not help."
It is almost an unanimous opinion in the foreign and home ministries that the Indian media is responsible for 'lionising' Khokhar. Add to this the social elite of Delhi, which does not stop feting Pakistani diplomats, they say. "You guys are always running after the Pakistanis here. Stop running to them and see the effect," is an oft-heard remark in these ministries. This certainly is part of the problem. Very few diplomats have received such good treatment from the Indian media as Khokhar. The media has willingly provided Khokhar with a platform to launch his verbal attacks. Khokhar has figured out the Indian foreign policy establishment and the media extremely well, and has used the latter to devastating effect. The best way to treat Khokhar is to ignore him, say Indian officials. But then the Indian media is independent and Indian officials will have to live with it.
Last year, when there was a rumpus over not providing a seat to Minister of State for Foreign Affairs R.L. Bhatia during the Pakistan Day celebrations, Khokhar was projected as a hero in Pakistan who had 'fixed' India—an image which sells in Pakistan. It is only incidental that this India-baiting might help Khokhar become the foreign secretary of Pakistan. Since there is an obsession with India in Pakistan and the country's foreign policy is India-centric, Khokhar is certainly doing a fine job here. Khokhar's recent ourburst has raised a lot of eyebrows in Delhi's diplomatic circles. As a western diplomat commented, "Kho-khar is playing to the galleries back home."
바카라 웹사이트But there is a flip side too. Pakistan's and Khokhar's desperation over the elections in Kashmir notwithstanding, the fact is that he is really having fun at India's cost. Everyone might agree that Khokhar has crossed all diplomatic limits, but it is India and its foreign policy establishment which has egg all over its face, more so the ruling party. Therefore, while blaming the Indian media is the easy way out, the fact is that those who frame Indian foreign policy in the PMO are equally at fault, especially when it comes to Pakistan.
A lot of Indian officials find Khokhar's behaviour appalling. "It's a national disgrace," one of them said, "that we take this nonsense from the high commissioner of a country which is actively involved in terrorist activities in Kashmir."
바카라 웹사이트"The Indian government should not have simply issued that half-baked statement expressing its indignation at Khokhar's remarks. I am sure he doesn't care. He has his finger on our pulse and knows he can get away with anything he says. Let an ambassador say such a thing in another country, say China or Russia. He will be out immediately. We have been made the laughing stock. Khokhar is absolutely right when he says he hasn't discovered any foreign policy. What is our foreign policy? Can we stand up for ourselves?" retorted the indignant official, requesting anonymity. He said the government should ask Khokhar to go back and that it should also recall India's High Commissioner Satish Chandra from Islamabad.
Khokhar's interview reinforces this point. He said that he hardly ever goes to the External Affairs Ministry, adding, "Your high commissioner hardly goes to the Pakistan foreign office. Socially we are nice to each other...but sometimes even there, there are breakdowns."바카라 웹사이트
Khokhar hit the nail on the head. He could have been speaking for Indian diplomats in Islamabad "who have little mobility and can do nothing of significance there", as the Indian official said. "What are Indian diplomats doing there?" he asked. It is unlike India, where Pakistani diplomats meet and interact with Indians with complete freedom. Pakistan's powerful intelligence establishment ensures that Indian diplomats have limited access and the Pakistani press rarely finds it necessary to speak to them.
The moot point is whether it is necessary to keep such huge diplomatic establishments in each other's countries when, as Khokhar admits, no purpose is being served. If there is one premise that Khokhar's four years in Delhi have proved correct, it is that having a high commissioner in each other's country does not help smoothen relations. "We should downgrade the level of diplomatic ties with Islamabad from high commissioner to charge d'affaires. No purpose is being served having them around. But who will ever take this decision," said this officer. This is a minority view in South Block, but it cannot be ignored.
Defenders of India's foreign policy argue that sending Khokhar back home will be playing straight into his hands and the international fallout of such an incident will be unacceptably high, besides bringing Kashmir back into the focus.
This argument is fundamentally flawed. First, India played straight into Khokhar's hands by making such a brouhaha over his comments and then simply following it up with a weak statement, expressing its indignation. Second, Pakistan has successfully internationalised the Kashmir issue over the last few years and it would hardly matter if India took a tough stand now.
Over a period of time, as Indo-Pakistan relations gradually deteriorated, the bilateral relations have become hostage to Khokhar's diplomatic behaviour. This is a remarkable achievement for any diplomat: to hijack the entire bilateral agenda and weave it around his own personality.