Grilled by an old hand, Pakistan’s new top diplomat covered all the bases with panache
By Staff Reporter
ISLAMABAD: Bilwal Bhutto Zardari may be young but he is a Bhutto. Diplomacy runs in his blood and international affairs were the stuff he learned in his cradle. Small wonder he was like a fish in water interacting with foreign leaders and media persons on his maiden visit to the United States after assuming charge as Pakistan’s new foreign minister.
Nowhere was this more apparent to watch than in Christiane Amanpour’s interview of the young man Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif of the Pakistan Democratic Front (PDM) coalition government has entrusted with putting Pakistan’s relationship with the outside world on an even keel.
Based in Washington DC, Amanpour was joined by Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari over video link from New York. The veteran CNN journalist opened with a tricky question: The Afghan Taliban have said they have brokered a ceasefire between Pakistan and the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). “Do you accept that? Is that correct?”
This was a loaded question on several counts. For starters, the Afghan Taliban are a diplomatic pariah no country in the world wants to be caught engaging with for any reason. As a foreign minister, Bhutto’s foremost duty was to keep Pakistan above reproach.
On another level, no Pakistani civilian leader including Bhutto is in on how our security establishment is dealing with TTP. But the Pakistani political class is still not prepared to wash our polity’s dirty laundry over international media.
Above all, a diplomat is always careful to never commit his country to any position on a given issue. So how did Bhutto perform on these counts?
His answer was: “As far as the terrorist issues are concerned, Pakistan has been worried about the increase in terrorist activity. And we are looking to the regime in Afghanistan to play their role in discouraging an increase of terrorist activity. And this is indeed an encouraging sign.
“We continue to not only monitor this situation, but work on our side to ensure that we can tackle the threat of terrorism and hope that the regime in Afghanistan lives up to their international commitment to not allow their soil to be used for terrorism.”
This is a ten out of ten whichever way you look at it: Bhutto did not accept nor reject anything. He did not commit his country to position – nor did he draw attention to what Pakistani civilian leadership still views as an internal matter.
Another fraught moment came in the interview when Amanpour approached Pakistan’s relationship with the Afghan Taliban, recalling how the late Benazir Bhutto “publicly supported the Taliban” and how the recently ousted prime minister Imran Khan “welcomed the Taliban takeover saying, that the chains of slavery for Afghanistan had been broken”.
She rounded off her question with an ominous accusation, saying, “United States believes that your country has played a very dangerous role in supporting the Taliban over the decades”.
Bhutto again remained unruffled, thanked Amanpour for the question, and responded solidly with, “Pakistan has consistently had an engagement with Afghanistan no matter who has been in power”, adding, “We have always been advocates of the fact that alongside action against terrorist activity, ultimately, the resolution of the dispute in Afghanistan was dialogue and diplomacy”.
He then pointed out how Pakistan had been on the receiving end of criticism for “maintaining and sustaining” ties with the Taliban, but “the International Community ultimately went down that route” dealing with the Taliban.
He then matched the CNN host’s accusation with an equally damning accusation – couched in thoroughly diplomatic language. He said, “There’s a lot of blame to go around about how this situation developed. If we focus on that, I think it hampers our ability to deal with the crisis at hand. We must prioritise alleviating the humanitarian crisis, ensuring that there’s not a total economic collapse in Afghanistan, and holding the Taliban regime to their international commitments.
“And I particularly want to just mention here, that it was not Pakistan or anybody else, but it was the United States who had direct communication and dialogue with the Taliban regime before their takeover of Kabul, and there is a direct agreement between the United States and this regime.
“So, if we get into the pedantic about who recognised who when, that complicates the issue. It suffices to say that we all believe, Pakistan believes and the international community believes, they will not serve any of our interests if we abandon the people of Afghanistan once again.”
While these were the most sensitive questions fielded by Bhutto, there were other important bits he got exactly right. For instance, he elaborated Pakistan’s unchanging position to engage Taliban based on the fact that we cannot change our neighbours.
Finally, he explicated excellently how the Taliban were duty bound to ensure women’s rights including girls’ access to education not just by international covenants but by the basic tenets of Islam.
All in all, he left no doubt that PM Sharif had made the right call when he picked him to bat for Pakistan at the international stage, and that Pakistan’s foreign ministry was in able and deft hands.
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