ISLAMABAD – The Pakistani government has begun to appear apologetic about its plans to open diplomatic links with Israel, as criticism builds up against a budding liaison between two nations founded in the late 1940s in the name of religion.
Waves of condemnation, from both liberal as well as fundamentalist groups, have followed the highly publicized meeting in Ankara last week between Pakistan foreign minister Khursheed Kasuri and his Israeli counterpart Sylvan Shalom, putting President Gen. Pervez Musharraf’s government on the defensive.
"Musharraf first betrayed the nation by compromising on the Kashmir issue and now, he is ready to negotiate Pakistan’s principled position on the Palestinian issue," said Liaquat Baloch, deputy leader of the powerful Jamaat-i-Islami party, in an IPS interview.
Jamaat is a component of the six-party alliance of religious-political parties or Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA), which rules two provinces bordering Afghanistan.
The MMA and other opposition parties have called a countrywide strike on Friday to demand the resignation of Musharraf, with MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmed publicly accusing the president, among other things, of "changing polices on Kashmir and Palestine without taking parliament into confidence."
Such accusations strike a chord with generations of Pakistanis, bewildered by a complete about-turn to policies they have grown up with, and there has been general uneasiness since the news of the meeting between the two foreign ministers broke on Sept. 1.
"Jews have been killing Palestinians, occupying their lands and trampling over international agreements and UN resolutions. How can we now become friends with the killers and murderers of innocent Palestinians? There can be no explanation that can justify such a relationship," said Amjad Shiraz, a teenager, who studies at a religious seminary.
"We know that the government is responding to the American pressure. It is out of compulsion and not choice," said Shiraz, who, like most Pakistanis, views Israel as a repressive state that has been spilling the blood of innocent Palestinians struggling to live on their own land.
"It [Israel] is an illegitimate state crafted in the middle of the Arab world by the British and the Americans as an outpost of the western world, to safeguard western interests in the oil- rich region. The Jewish state has survived by virtue of sheer brutality and generous support from the West, which is now pushing countries like ours for recognition," said Mohammad Hussein, a retired bureaucrat.
Pakistan has maintained that that the only way to have enduring peace in the Middle East is through an early, negotiated settlement of the Arab-Israel conflict, in accordance with UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, the Quartet’s Road Map, and the Abdullah Peace Plan, leading to a two-state solution.
Islamabad has also opposed the security wall that Israel is erecting as part of its unilateral policy of containing the Palestinians.
As fears of public agitation grew, Pakistani Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz issued a policy statement at the ongoing parliamentary session, saying that contact with Israel was made after Palestinian leader Mahmood Abbas requested Islamabad, earlier this year, to play a role in the resolution of the Middle East dispute.
The government maintains that it has not recognized Israel and asked that the planned ties with Israel should not be construed as such. "When there is a change in the policy, parliament would be taken on board and all the decisions would be taken with the consultation of parliament. At the moment, there is no change in foreign policy with regard to the recognition of Israel," Aziz told parliament.
Aziz also explained that Islamabad had taken friendly Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, into confidence before the meeting.
While the government can claim to have taken external actors into confidence, it has difficulty in refuting charges that it completely ignored parliament and this is what seems to have brought political parties, across the ideological spectrum, under a common, confrontational stance over the issue.
Baloch said he feared that Pakistan’s warming up to Israel under "pressure from America" is damaging to the national interest. "Today, we are being pressurized to recognize Israel – tomorrow we will be forced to accept the Indian claim over Kashmir. The government is stepping into a well-laid trap."
The rejection of Pakistan’s ties with Israel by an all-party conference, held over the weekend in Lahore, Pakistan’s second largest city, has already added pressure on Musharraf to relinquish power and hold early elections.
The alliance of Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP) and the faction of the Pakistan Muslim League led by exiled former prime minister Nawaz Sharif have announced that they would soon be tendering their resignations from parliament in protest against dictatorial rule.
Leading security experts have also opposed Islamabad-Tel Aviv ties and Hamid Gul, former chief of the military’s premier spy agency, Inter Services Intelligence (ISI), believes that the move could lead to a serious loss of credibility for Pakistan within the Muslim world. "We will lose friends who stood with us for decades," he said.
Thousands of Palestinians in Gaza held a protest on Sunday against the Pakistan-Israel meeting, prompting Mahmood Abbas to make public assurances that Islamabad would not recognize the Jewish state.
Another worry is that ties with Israel could jeopardize Islamabad’s relations with adjacent Iran, which is staunchly against the Jewish state. "If Pakistan recognizes Israel, Iran may be forced to suspend work on the pipeline project with Pakistan, that also involves India, causing considerable damage to Pakistan’s economic interests," said a security analyst in the government-funded Institute of Strategic Studies in Islamabad.
Government leaders maintain that the policy change keeps in view national interests. "We continue to extend unflinching support to the Palestinian cause, but we cannot stay aloof in a world that is seeing historic changes. We need to take steps that can keep us relevant to the world politics," said Akram Zaki, who is a vice-president of the PML and a former foreign secretary.
Zaki claimed that direct contact between Pakistan and Israel through their foreign ministers could serve to strengthen the Middle East peace process and improve prospects for establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Some nationalist parties have also lent support to the new policy, provided it has the approval of parliament. "We support the government move, but we want that parliament should be consulted. Our party believes that war has never been a solution and dialogue is the only option to resolve issues," Asfandyar Wali Khan, leader of the nationalist Awami National Party (ANP), told a weekend press conference.
However, the pockets of support are small and the concentrations of opposition significantly large. The government is certain to come up against severe opposition if it decides to go ahead with the plans announced by Musharraf, that a Pakistani delegation would soon go to Jerusalem.
"The government needs to move slowly on this path, as an external breakthrough cannot be made at a price that can cause internal instability. Such decisions must be taken on a national consensus following an open and transparent debate," said Amir Wasim, a journalist with the influential, English-language daily Dawn.
