Wednesday, June 8, 2022
Opinion: Thanks to Saudi Arabia, Pakistan's Recognition of Israel Is Now Inevitable
Kunwar Khuldune Shahid
The visit to Israel of a group of Pakistani-Americans and Pakistanis last month has mainstreamed the debate surrounding the formalization of ties between the two countries. From newspaper columns, to blogs, to YouTube videos, to Twitter threads in the local Urdu language – all are dedicated to the discussion. While the most visible narrative still betrays Islamist hyperbole and antisemitic hysteria, even the hyper-nationalist internet fora in Pakistan have found space for arguments in favor of recognizing Israel. That change is in the air is clear from the surprisingly robust defense of former state television journalist Ahmed Quraishi, who was part of the Pakistani delegation that visited Israel last month, who himself isn’t the only prominent voice championing the formalizing of ties between the two countries today. Despite being sacked by the government affiliated Pakistan Television Cooperation, and being targeted by the recently ousted Imran Khan, many mainstream journalists have come to Quraishi’s defense. An expert I recently interviewed for a piece on the country’s environmental policies reiterated that he has been saying for years that Pakistan should “learn from Israel” and use Israeli tech knowhow to bring about a green revolution. A similar argument was made here in Haaretz by Pakistani agriculture experts a couple of years ago, and back then, the backlash was severe.Pakistan can't afford to remain the last Sunni Islamist bastion resisting Saudi normalization with Israel. But the country's rulers, both political and military, want safeguards against a frenzied domestic backlash.
A decade ago, when some of us found space in local English-language newspapers then willing to push the proverbial envelope, questioning the state’s duplicity over Israel, highlighting the similarities between the two countries, and arguing for ties between them, it was an eccentric opinion that barely anyone would take seriously. Today, it is one of the top-level foreign policy deliberations in Pakistan’s corridors of power.
This, of course, is not to suggest that these handful of Pakistani writers penning the occasional piece in local, and more recently Israeli, newspapers have rejigged the national ethos. It is the new geopolitical realities that have transformed what was until recently unthinkable to now being increasingly inevitable.Even so, decades of anti-Israel frenzy was never going to evaporate without a whimper, even if the push for formalization is coming from the omnipotent military establishment. On cue, Imran Khan, who had already been fanning conspiracy theories about an “Israeli plot” against him before his removal as the prime minister in April, is now amplifying them in front of crowds of many thousands. At one recent mass rally he declared that his government was "ousted because of a conspiracy to install America’s puppets," and alleged that the Israel visit was not only masterminded by the Sharif government that replaced his, but that it was "an attempt to impose the Indian-Israeli-American agenda on Pakistan and enslave Pakistan.” Further than that, Khan is increasingly spilling the beans on the military leadership which once secured his position but with which he’s now at loggerheads. Khan has been reiterating how his successors have been “tasked with” recognizing Israel and a settlement over Kashmir with India, because of course that is precisely what he had been “tasked with” when he was in power. Last week, the day after Khan first made the allegation that Pakistan’s current leaders were effectively Israel’s pawns, his rival, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, attended the National Assembly session with a performative riposte, wearing a Palestinian scarf with “Jerusalem is ours” inscribed on it. Antisemitic slurs are being hurled by both the government and the opposition. Maryam Nawaz, vice president of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) saying that Khan is the “only person in Pakistan with family ties to Israel,” alluding to his erstwhile marriage with Jemima Goldsmith. Fazlur Rehman, the Islamic cleric who is presiding over the ruling coalition Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM), and who has spent the past couple of decades directing antisemitic hatred towards Khan, last week said that it was the ousted prime minister whose “agenda” was to recognize Israel and “taint Islam.”
Meanwhile, as the current government, like its predecessors, gaslights its way towards ties with Israel, the leaders of Khan’s Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaf (PTI) are digging out developments from the PML-N’s previous tenure to suggest that the “plot” had been hatched even before Khan came to power. For Shireen Mazari, the former Khan administration’s human rights minister no less, the current government allowing a Jewish man, Fishel Benkhald, to correct his religion on official documents in 2017 came at the initiation of the “Israel agenda.” Benkhald, Pakistan’s “last Jew,” was part of the delegation that visited Israel last month.Clearly, neither the government nor the Khan-led opposition wants the formalization of Israeli ties under their watch unless the military can guarantee protection from the inevitable electoral dent that the move would trigger. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has been keen on subservience to the military. However, his government still isn’t certain of the depth and breadth of support it enjoys from the powers that be. For instance, it took the government two months to make the commonsensical move on removing the unsustainable subsidy on fuel which had pulverized the Pakistani rupee, exacerbated the current account deficit and crashed the markets. Where aligning fuel prices with global crude hike is politically touted as a “tough decision,” recognizing Israel obviously goes off the difficulty charts. However, given that even in a crippling economic crisis, the government has managed to find a way to hike the defense budget by six percent shows that Sharif is willing to put it all on the line over the military bailing his regime out in the election now likely to be in 2023. The military, of course, has much to gain from the godfathers of normalization with Israel, namely Saudi Arabia and the United States, and was increasingly alarmed by the strident anti-American tone adopted by Khan, particularly in his final months in office. When Khan was visiting Putin and openly slamming the U.S. in the weeks leading up to his ouster, Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa was orchestrating damage control with Washington in his public statements and diplomatic engagements, both official and backchannel. However, with Khan’s popularity escalating following his unceremonious exit in April, both Gen Bajwa and the institution that he leads, are facing vitriol across social media. #BajwaHasToGo was the top Twitter trend in Pakistan on Monday. Indeed, a behind-the-scene turf war has been brewing within the military leadership, with a faction backing Khan, whose exit was prompted by the fallout his attempt to exercise the prime minister’s constitutional right to prolong the term of his spymaster instead of nominating Gen Bajwa’s choice. With Bajwa’s term ending in November, he wants a government willing to obediently follow his call and pick his choice as the next army chief. But this has made Gen Bajwa enemies with Khan’s party, the political grouping that dominates social media like no other. As result, pushing ties with Israel, a treasonous, “anti-Pakistan” argument until last year, is now a popular accusation directed at the military leadership. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia, the principal force behind Pakistan’s Israel move, cannot afford to wait too long for Pakistan’s civil-military leaders to sort out their wariness over the consequences. With Israeli businesspeople, frequenting Saudi Arabia, the kingdom wants to formalize the ties swiftly especially with Joe Biden’s visit to the two countries – now postponed till July – likely to fortify defense alliances in the region. Formalizing ties with Israel, coupled with peace in Jerusalem – which, in turn, would require a settlement acceptable to the Palestinian leadership – is the final piece in the Islamic jigsaw of the al-Saud family, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pivoting, in recent years, towards selling a tourism-friendly version of Islam. The hub of Salafi jihadism for the past four decades, Saudi Arabia, is now coping with new economic realities after losing out oil dominance to U.S. shale in recent years, and with Islam evolving from being the source of al-Saud family’s control over Islamic sites in the Arabian Peninsula to now growing as the bedrock of the Saudi economy. With Islamic pilgrimage already contributing over $12 billion to the Saudi economy, a reformed, moderate Islam will bolster Saudi geoeconomic power, especially if it can be coupled with hegemony over the Islamic heritage in the region. Easy access to Jerusalem would complete the Mecca-Medina-Jerusalem Islamic trail connecting the three holiest sites in Islam, with the theological rationale for brotherhood with Jews – fellow ‘people of the book’ in Islam – already being peddled by leading Saudi clerics in official sermons. With the seven-decade old Turkey-Israel ties recently growing warmer after years of frigidity, encouraged by Saudi Arabia which has petrodollars that Recep Tayyip Erdogan desperately needs, and ever-closer ties between Israel and its Abraham Accords partners, it is Pakistan that remains the last Sunni Islamist bastion resisting Saudi normalization with Israel. Pakistan, too, will inevitably be offered sweeteners to soften its stance: massive financial gains to heal an ailing economy, which is once again at the doorstep of the International Monetary Fund for a bailout. That bailout could allow the government, for instance, to pass a more populist budget next June in the lead up to national elections. A Saudi-backed influence campaign championing both subsidies for essential goods and access to Al-Aqsa could offer an enticing electoral slogan. Despite that, Saudi protection is largely for the military rulers invested in the country not imploding, financially or otherwise. The government wants safeguards from the army that in turn wants safeguards from Riyadh and DC, a veritable food chain of guarantees. But with a significant chunk of Pakistanis, most notably Imran Khan’s followers, no longer being under the army’s control, it is already more difficult for both the U.S. and Saudi Arabia to leverage their influence. Biden and MBS will find little reassurance in solely incentivizing the military leadership, which has hitherto sufficed in guaranteeing Pakistan’s position in regard to Israel. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia is likely to soon make its move on Israel, with or without a Pakistan high on self-righteousness but running out of economic lifelines.https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2022-06-08/ty-article-opinion/.premium/thanks-to-saudi-arabia-pakistans-recognition-of-israel-is-now-inevitable/00000181-441d-dada-a9a7-fe9d68970000
Pakistan should not be dragged into any conflict: Bilawal Bhutto
Bilawal said Pakistan is a small and developing country, but it always advocated that international laws should be adhered to.Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari Tuesday said that Pakistan always advocated dialogue and use of diplomacy as tools for pursuit of peace in the world.Addressing a joint presser along with his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, the foreign minister referred to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and said Pakistan had a firm position that it should not be dragged into any conflict. Pakistan is a small and developing country, but it always advocated that international laws should be adhered to, he said, adding that all world conflicts should be resolved through peaceful means.Replying to a question, Bilawal maintained that humanitarian crises in Ukraine could not be ignored and stressed that Pakistan would continue to advocate for dialogue and diplomacy as means in the pursuit of peace. The foreign minister said Pakistan always emphasised upon the adherence of UN principles and its charters and respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries. Bilawal observed that ramifications of conflict in the EU in the shape of Russia-Ukraine conflict were also felt in Pakistan in the shape of increasing prices of fuel and food. He reiterated that Pakistan called upon immediate cessation of hostilities and immediate initiation of peaceful dialogue. He said considering the plight of people in Ukraine, Pakistan had dispatched four planeloads of humanitarian aid. The foreign minister said Pakistan remained concerned about the well-being of the Ukrainian people, civilian casualties and massive exodus of refugees. The foreign minister said Pakistan wanted to engage with all its neighbours. Pakistan played an important role in establishing diplomatic ties between China and the US and it would continue to play the role of bridge, he added. About the Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) issue, he said that he had been vociferously raising the Indian atrocities issue during his engagements at the global fora and in his meetings with his counterparts of various countries, including the US secretary of state. The foreign minister warned that the situation in IIOJK had been fast deteriorating due to provocative steps of India that was trying to undermine the Muslim majority by marginalising and turning it into minority through illegal steps. The foreign minister said the international community must immediately take noticeof the increasing incidents of persecution of minorities and rising tide of Islamophobia in India. Bilawal, citing the recent provocative and sacrilegious statements by the BJP leaders, said that such outrageous and highly-condemnable statements had hurt the sentiments of Muslims all over the world. He said it was a proof that India had turned into a fascist country and it was no longer a secular India, but dominated by Hindutva ideology.The foreign minister said Pakistan wanted peace with India, but it required a rational approach from the other side, adding with such irrational steps by India, the space for peace was being squeezed. The foreign minister reiterated The peace in South Asia is contingent upon peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue." He said that Pakistan and Germany enjoyed a close and long standing cordial cooperation based upon mutual respect and driven by bilateral ties and shared interests. He said both the countries were also close partners in the European Union context. Bilawal said Germany had been Pakistan s largest trading partner in the EU context and its fifth world export destination. Last year, he said Pakistan's exports to Germany stood at around $2.5 billion while German imports remained at $1.3 billion. Germany was also the seventh largest direct investor in Pakistan. The foreign minister said Pakistan always emphasized upon and supported a peaceful and stable Afghanistan contributing to the regional progress and development and connectivity. He stressed upon the international community to focus on the humanitarian assistance to the Afghan people who had been facing financial crises. A UN report had indicated that about 97 per cent of Afghan population had been pushed below the poverty line and faced immediate danger of hunger and starvation. At the same time, the foreign minister stressed that the Afghan government must come up to the expectations of the international community with regard to upholding of human and women’s rights and take effective steps against terrorism. He urged the international community to actively engage with the Afghan government to avoid humanitarian crises in Afghanistan, adding release of its foreign assets would help its sagging economy. The foreign minister also enumerated Pakistan’s efforts for the safe evacuation of foreigners in the earlier phases after the Taliban took control of the country. Foreign Minister Bilawal said Pakistan had faced the brunt of terrorism and extremism in Afghanistan and it was in the world’s interest to ensure peace in Afghanistan, so that no terrorist activities could take place in that country. He said it was important for the international community to engage with the new rulers of Afghanistan. The foreign minister said Pakistan had been a victim of terrorism from the groups operating in Afghanistan, adding they were concerned about the consequences of the humanitarian crises unfolding on their borders. He called upon the international community to help avoid a total economic collapse in Afghanistan. The foreign minister said Pakistan faced economic constraints in helping the Afghan refugees, still it was playing a very responsible role on the world stage. About Pakistan’s diplomatic priorities, he said they had focused on strengthening of economic relations by resetting of ties with different countries, adding Pakistan was keen that its GSP plus status should be extended so that its businesses and economy could take benefits. Foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said during her meeting with FM Bilawal, they had discussed at length the issue of Afghanistan where the situation had forced millions to leave the country. Lauding Pakistan’s role for peace and stability in Afghanistan, she said Pakistan had shown a big heart to provide shelter and support to Afghan refugees. The German foreign minister said it was an enormous task and reiterated her government s solidarity and support to Pakistan. Germany remained committed to continuing its support to the Afghan refugees in Pakistan, she said, urging the international partners to play their part in supporting efforts for education and health sectors. She also expressed Germany’s concerns over Taliban treatment of women and people and said that Afghan s economy had come to a grinding halt. Annalena Baerbock said that Taliban government had been heading in the wrong direction still she reiterated that they would not abandon the people of Afghanistan and would continue to provide support. About ties with Pakistan, she said that both countries had been the closest and reliable partner, adding both countries achieved when they worked together by further strengthening the bilateral relations. The German foreign minister said Germany and Pakistan had prioritize their efforts to combat climate crises as the time for the world community was running out, requiring immediate global action. She said both the countries excellent ties and there existed immense opportunities for trade and investment and energy sectors. To a question regarding Kashmir, she said they supported resolution of the Kashmir issue in accordance with the UN resolutions. She said they believed that a constructive approach and confidence building measures between Pakistan and India were key to improvement of the ties and solution of the issue. About Russian-Ukraine conflict, the foreign minister observed the world was pushed into danger when the law of strongest was applied. The German foreign minister said that issues like Islamophobia had been linked with the regional and international peace and security. She maintained that German always insisted upon implementation of UNSC principles and charters. About Russian-Ukraine conflict, she said the crises had consequences beyond borders. The Russian-Ukraine conflict had sent the food prices skyrocketed, especially of the wheat. She termed it as the biggest threat and challenge to the humanity in the 21st century and stressed upon the international community to work together and support each other.
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https://www.thenews.com.pk/print/964347-pakistan-should-not-be-dragged-into-any-conflict-bilawal
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