The hype and deflections of Nawaz Sharifs envoys on Kashmir
The goal of Mushahid Hussain Syed and Shezra Mansab Khan Ali seems to have been to shame and scare the US and India through sarcasm, untruths and half-truths served with a large helping of
self-promotion
SEEMA SIROHI
The world must immediately apologise to Pakistan for getting this well-meaning country so wrong for so long. All the intelligence agencies, including the 16 that the US operates, have failed miserably at their job, their mass surveillance notwithstanding.
Pakistan is wronged not just by India, but also by the US, Afghanistan and Europe. But Pakistan has new patrons and newer friends who will watch its back and by Allahs grace protect its military-jihadi complex into the next phase along with all the nuclear bombs on the ready.
Who cares about the US anymore? Its no longer a world power. Its a declining power. Forget about it, a Pakistani envoy sent to change American minds was heard saying. China is closer, has more bucks in the bank and Russia wants to sell weapons. America, you are so yesterday.
And terrorism is a matter of opinion. Your terrorist is Pakistans cuddly bear with a beard and a kaffiyeh to boot. Wasnt Ronald Reagan the worlds greatest jihadi when he welcomed Gulbudin Hekmatyar and Jalaluddin Haqqani in the White House during the heydays of the Afghan jihad against the Soviets?
If you want peace and stability in Afghanistan, you have to ensure that Kashmir is not burning. Until then, your soldiers and your embassies will remain targets. And by the way,
the Kashmir dispute should be settled according to Pakistan (armys) wishes.
This was the drift of Mushahid Hussain Syed, one of the 22 Pakistani envoys sent to world capitals to denounce India, highlight the unrest in Jammu and Kashmir and defend Pakistans miserable record on terrorism, cross-border attacks and being a giant headache in the worlds collective head.
But the on-steroids Hussian isnt getting much attention. So far he has met Richard Olson, the state departments special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Olson has no choice but to listen. It helps that Olson is a believer and quietly accepted a dossier on Indian crimes in Kashmir.
Two think tanks gave Hussain and Shezra Mansab Khan Ali, a parliamentarian from Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharifs party, a platform but couldnt muster a good audience. Apart from four or five retired Americans, it was the lonely South Asia hearts club band in attendance Indian journalists, Pakistani activists and in house interns. Even the Pakistani journalists didnt bother to show up in great numbers.
The public appearance at The Atlantic Council actually became an embarrassment because Pakistans underbelly showed up in full force Baloch, Sindhi and Gilgit-Baltistani activists drowned the speakers with hard questions about forced disappearances, ISI brutality and taking American money to kill American soldiers. As a Washington observer said, It boomeranged on them.
The encounter at the Stimson Centre was smoother, mainly because the hosts were oh-so-careful. The many claims of Hussain and Ali went unchallenged, but anyone with any knowledge of history would have been embarrassed. Hussain didnt answer a single question directly and instead deflected everything on either India or America. When asked about the disappearing Baloch, he called the phenomenon an aberration and said it was just like the US police killing black men. And didnt 1,000 Muslims die in Gujarat riots? And who was the chief minister then?
For a college debate, the performance would have fit well with all the sarcasm, sneers and jeers, but as a representative of a government that wants to be taken seriously, it was a failure. At times Hussain was so clever he hurt himself and his cause. When asked why Pakistan was extolling Burhan Wani as a martyr when Wani was a self-confessed commander of a terrorist organisation, Hussain countered: wasnt Nathuram Godse extolled by some in India for killingMahatma Gandhi?
The Wire
