The current crisis in Pakistan-US relations over the detention of Raymond Davis, the American security contractor charged with the murder of two Pakistanis, confirms many well-known trends, such as increasing anti-Americanism among Pakistanis and the growing importance of 'strategic corporals'.
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Analysis
The current crisis in Pakistan-US relations over the detention of Raymond Davis, the American security contractor charged with the murder of two Pakistanis, confirms many well-known trends, such as increasing anti-Americanism among Pakistanis and the growing importance of ’strategic corporals’. More importantly, the knee-jerk reaction of the two Governments also reveals the transactional nature of their tenuous relationship. Brusque American calls for Davis’ release and threats of punitive measures, driven no doubt by hubris, have only served to question the legitimacy of previous year’s ’strategic partnership’ in the eyes of Pakistani officials and citizens alike.
On January 27, Raymond Davis shot dead 22-year-old Faizan Haider and 26-year-old Faheem Shamshad on a busy road intersection in Lahore. His colleagues, while attempting to rescue him, drove over a third victim, Ibaad-ur-Rehman who succumbed to his injuries. Davis was arrested on the spot by the police, and he immediately claimed diplomatic immunity. He insisted that the two men, who had just carried out an armed robbery, had approached him with malicious intent and that he had acted purely in self-defence. Recovery of stolen cell phones from the dead men supported his account. On the other hand, preliminary investigation by the police showed that Davis had fired at the alleged assailants at their back, making the self-defence argument untenable. Further, they found surveillance equipment such as a Global Positioning System (GPS) device, a telescope, a high-resolution camera and radio transmitters, which challenged Davis’s identity as a ’diplomatic staff’.
After more than a month of media leaks, it has emerged that Raymond Davis was in fact a security contractor who worked for the CIA to guard its officers and provide security to visiting dignitaries. However, events leading to the shootout remain murky as best. US officials privately acknowledge Davis’s identity, but continue to insist that he acted in self-defence. Pakistani officials claim that Davis’ victims were in fact intelligence agents who ’tailed’ Davis after it emerged that he was operating outside the agreed purview of the CIA and had crossed certain ’red lines’.
Irrespective of Davis’ motives, Pakistan referred the matter to the judiciary, which has charged the American with murder. The civilian Government, already unpopular due to its counter-terrorism alliance with the US, simply could not afford to be viewed as compromising Pakistan’s sovereignty by letting Davis, whose immunity to host country’s law is dubious at best, escape trial. While Pakistan’s stance might be influenced by domestic constraints, it is legitimate, and according to legal experts, in line with diplomatic protocol and international law.
On the other hand, the reactions of US officials have been inconsistent and border on brute arm-twisting. They attempted to play down the matter by refusing to accept Raymond Davis’ identity, ’requested’ its media to conceal Davis’ association with the CIA, thus making it complicit in the State propaganda, and even distorted official records (between January 25 and 28, Davis’ status was changed from consular staff to embassy staff, since the former enjoys restricted privileges), and have continued to insist that Davis is indeed a diplomat, which flies in the face of known facts. Pakistani officials point out how the US Embassy had not declared Davis as a diplomat for the record of their Foreign Ministry, and how such a status could not be claimed for the purpose of security immunity from domestic laws.
The complex interplay between Pakistani constraints and American hubris reveals interesting dynamics that shape their relations. First, anti-Americanism in Pakistan, which rose exponentially after the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, is steadily on the incline. Anti-US sentiment has grown even among the westernised sections of the Pakistani civil society because of various reasons like ill-treatment of ordinary Muslims in US airports, human rights abuses in places like the Guantanamo Bay, and more importantly, civilian deaths caused by drone strikes along the Af-Pak border. Today the US is immensely disliked in all sections of the Pakistani society, and this trend is unlikely to change, irrespective of the generosity of US largesse in terms of aid commitments.
Second, the crisis illustrates the transactional nature of the relationship between the two countries. Since coming to power in 2009, US President Barack Obama has tried hard to redefine US-Pakistan relationship as a ’long-term strategic partnership’. He has failed not due of lack of attempts, but because of the absence of strategic congruence, a pre-requisite to forge such a relationship. In the past, their interests had converged on defeating Communist forces in Afghanistan, which made Pakistan surrogate to US objectives. In the post-9/11 South Asia, however, Pakistan, with no discernable threats from the Taliban, has behaved as a mercenary of the US, which is fundamentally different from being a proxy.
As a consequence of the deeply-flawed ’either with us or against us’ logic of the US under predecessor-President, George Bush, and his cohorts, Pakistan’s only motive to counter the Taliban has been the carrot (aid) and the stick (abandonment and military strikes). Renewed calls for ’punitive measures’, ’coercive diplomacy’, ’aid cuts’, not to mention of the cancellation of important high-level diplomatic meetings, have only increased Pakistan’s suspicion of American sincerity as a long-term power and strengthened perceptions, rooted in past experience, that sooner or later, Pakistan will be ’abandoned’.
Lastly, the curious case of Raymond Davis confirms the importance of ’strategic corporals’ - low-ranked soldiers, or in this case contractors, whose tactical actions have strategic impact disproportionate to their rank and task. The term, coined in 1999, gained prominence after Private Lynndie England was shown in pictures of torture and abuse inside the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad. By shooting down two petty criminals who might have been on the payroll of the ISI, Raymond Davis has inadvertently damaged the US-Pakistan relations, a task that years of al-Qaeda plotting and propaganda had failed to achieve.
(Kaustav Dhar Chakraborti is a Junior Fellow with Observer Research Foundation)
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Country Reports
Pakistan
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">New US Af-Pak envoy makes maiden visit to Pakistan
Marc Grossman, the newly-appointed US special envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, made his first visit to the region and met separately with President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Army chief Gen Ashfaq Kayani. Grossman, who served at the US Embassy in Pakistan from 1977 to 1979, assumes office at a time when relations between the two countries have deteriorated over the Raymond Davis case.
Grossman, known for low-key, behind-the-scenes diplomacy, reiterated the US demand for the release of Davis. The Pakistani leaders, on the other hand, stuck to their position and urged him to facilitate the release of civilian funds. President Zardari tried to restore relations and said that both sides should avoid being "swayed by misperceptions and some isolated incidents that may be used by some to increase tensions and mistrust". The other noteworthy feature of the trip was the envoy’s meeting with Kayani, which reconfirms the US practice of accepting the military’s ascendancy in foreign policy matters in Pakistan, and negotiating directly with the army.
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Source: Dawn, March 7, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Militants strike in Peshawar and Faisalabad
Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militants carried out suicide bombings in Faisalabad and Peshawar, killing close to 70 people. In both the cases, their targets were security forces and their local allies. On March 8, militants struck at a gas station using a car-bomb in Faisalabad, Punjab, and killed 32 people. Their target was the office of Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), located in the station’s vicinity. The following day, a TTP suicide bomber targeted a funeral procession in Peshawar and killed 37 persons. The bomber’s targets were members of an anti-Taliban militia. Following the incident, the militia decided to withdraw its vigilance against the Taliban.
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Source: Daily Times, March 10, 2011, Dawn, March 8, 2011
Sri Lanka
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">PM stirs a Hornet’s Nest
Prime Minister D M Jayaratne stirred a Hornet’s Nest in improved bilateral relations with India, when he told the Parliament that the LTTE had set up three camps in the south Indian State of Tamil Nadu and an aide of one-time LTTE intelligence chief Pottu Amman was training cadres in assassinations targetting VIPs.
Prompt on his feet, UNP Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe challenged the Prime Minister about the veracity of the statement and pointed out that no such exchanges in this regard had taken place at meetings between top leaders of the two countries. He claimed that the Government was using it as an excuse for extending the emergency, which Parliament was debating at the time.
Though Prime Minister Jayaratne had originally cited intelligence reports, he was quick to withdraw his statement, after the Indian High Commission sources disputed the claim - and so did the Director-General of Tamil Nadu police, Letika Saran. Jayaratne then told newspersons that he had relied on media reports in the matter, and now the matter stood closed.
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Source: Daily Mirror & The Island, Colombo
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">JVP demands proper resettlement plan for NE
About 1202 houses taken over by the government and the security forces in the North during the ethnic war had not been returned to the owners, the JVP has charged. Party General Secretary Tilvin Silva told a news conference that the time had come for the Government to hand over these houses to the respective owners and to establish a civil administration in the North and the East as nearly 20 months had passed since the ending of the conflict.
The JVP leader alleged that the resettlement process in the North and the East had not been successful as the displaced were made to settle down in under developed areas with a few pieces of planks and roofing sheets while the best of the lands were given to private companies, including the multi nationals. He therefore stressed the need for a proper resettlement plan coupled with livelihood development and housing programmes.
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Source: Daily Mirror, Colombo, March 07, 2011
Afghanistan
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">NATO kills Karzai’s cousin
NATO forces accidentally killed the second cousin of President Hamid Karzai during a night-operation in a village near the Khandahar city on March 10. Haji Yar Mohammad Khan, an influential elder of the local Pashtun tribe, was killed as a result of a massive intelligence failure, prompting the President to order an inquiry.
Locals of Karz village, where the incident occurred, suspect that Government officials may have purposefully fed false information to the troops in order to settle an old family feud. They insist that the village is a ’Karzai stronghold’ and has remained relatively immune from insurgency.
The incident further strains relations between President Karzai and his international patrons, who have come in for criticism owing to the increasing collateral damage in their war on terrorism in Afghanistan. The previous week, nine children were killed in an air-raid in Kunar Province. In spite of a personal apology from Gen. David Petraeus, commander of the ISAF, President Karzai refused to accept the regret.
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Source: Panjwok, March 10, 2011, Tolo News, March 7, 2011,The Guardian, March 10, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">US Defence Secy visits Kabul
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates arrived on a two-day visit to Kabul on March 7. Gates continued to avoid definitive statements about the exact nature of the planned withdrawal of US troops in Afghanistan from July this year, saying, "While no decisions on numbers have been made, in my view we will be well positioned to begin drawing down some US and coalition forces this July."
Gates said that the US would begin consultations over the scope of its presence after 2014, the deadline for full withdrawal. Both sides are keen to retain a degree of long-term US military presence in ’terms of training and assistance’.
Gates also confirmed that the US will not station permanent bases in Afghanistan, amidst speculation that strategic competition with China and the recent discovery of mineral resources in Afghanistan will compel Washington to have a lasting footprint in the country, a prospect hugely unpopular in Afghanistan and in the neighbourhood. He also used the trip to apologise for the recent spate of civilian casualties that has strained relations between the two Governments.
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Source: Associated Press, March 7, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Pak apologises for border attacks
Pakistan has officially apologised to Afghanistan for shelling its border regions. Over the previous 20 days, Pakistan had shelled villages in the border province of Nangarhar in eastern Afghanistan six times, forcing 580 families to evacuate to safer regions.
During a trilateral meeting between Afghan, Pakistani and ISAF officials last week, Pakistani officials apologised, terming the shelling honest mistakes. The two countries have historically been at odds over Afghanistan’s claim to Pakistan’s Pashtun regions, and sporadic sponsorship of the irredentist ’Pashtunistan’ cause. Afghanistan, on the other hand, blames Pakistan for supporting Taliban and other insurgent movements.
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Source: Tolo News, March 6, 2011
Bangladesh
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Source-countries asked to help improve river-drainage
Finance Minister A M A Muhith has said that since Bangladesh drains huge quantities of water from the neighbouring countries to the Bay of Bengal, the countries those who share the river basins for drainage should make contributions to Bangladesh. He added that water of five countries, including Bangladesh, was being drained out. So the country’s drainage was important, so also was the dredging of country’s rivers. It was a very important geological responsibility.
Minister Muhith also observed that development of water resources would not be possible unless there is river-basin based development as out of the 310 rivers in Bangladesh, the source of 57 rivers was in other countries.
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Source: The Bangladesh Today, March 10, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Indira Gandhi, Manekshaw to be honoured
To commemorate 40 years of Independence, the Government has decided to honour 50 distinguished foreign nationals and five international organisations for their contribution in Bangladesh’s liberation struggle.
The foreign personalities who were enlisted for according honour include 17 Indians, nine US nationals, seven British, four Russians, three Japanese and one each from Australia, Bhutan, Germany, Ireland, France, Nepal, the Netherlands and Sweden, sources said. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Geneva-based International Commission of Jurists, British Broadcasting Corporation and State-run ’All India Radio’ are the organisations thus chosen for recognition.
Among the prominent personalities who will be honoured are former Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, former West Bengal Chief Minister Jyoti Basu, former Indian Chief of Army Staff, Field Marshal Sam Manekshaw and Eastern Commander of Indian Army, Lt-Gen, Jagjit Singh Aurora, American Senator Edward Kennedy, noted singer George Harrison and former Nepalese Prime Minister B P Koirala.
It is worth mentioning that all the Indian soldiers who were killed in the military operation against the Pakistan forces during the liberation war will be collectively honoured.
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Source: The Daily Star, March 8, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Equal rights for women to property, jobs
The Government has given its final nod to the National Women Development Policy (NWDP) 2011. The Cabinet approval came ahead of the International Women’s Day celebrated this week.
The policy talks of equal rights to women in property, employment and businesses. Shirin Sharmin Chowdhury, State Minister for Women and Children Affairs, said that the new policy has created a great scope for the advancement of women empowerment. She added that the policy upholds the rights of all women irrespective of their religion.
According to the Minister, the Government was contemplating on drawing a national action plan based on the new policy, which will provide women with full control over their right to land, earned property, health, education, training, information, inheritance, credit, technology and opportunity to earn. The government also plans to enact necessary new laws to put these rights into practice.
The women rights groups have welcomed this step of the Government. But few religious political parties have expressed their opposition to this policy as they believe it to be anti-Islamic. In fact, the centre-right Islami Oikya Jote has expressed its objection to the policy and called for a hartal (street protest) on April 4.
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Source: The Daily Star, March 8 & 10, 2011
Bhutan
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Govt losing national workforce to private sector
While the Government is still doing its calculations to work out a minimum national wage policy, the national workforce or permanent road workers are leaving to join the private sector that pay better. This has left the Government agencies worried over the past few months.
"We tried hard to retain them, but we can’t do it anymore," a Government engineer said. "Employees of the national force are going with private contractors and the hydro-power projects that are paying almost double what the Government pays." While trying to retain them, "we’ve also been lying to them, saying the revision will happen any time soon," he said. "But the situation is fast changing."
Without a proper wage structure, unskilled members of the national workforce are paid a minimum wage of Nu 100 a day, while skilled or semi-skilled workers earn a maximum of Nu 150 a day. In the private sector, skilled workers earn up to Nu 300 a day and the unskilled workers about Nu 150 for eight hours, apart from overtime payments.
The wage rate for the national work force has not changed since 2001. The need for the revision and establishing a minimum wage rate was intensively deliberated in Parliament as well. In June 2009, a national minimum wage committee was formed, in collaboration with the Works and Human Settlement Ministry, as most of the national workforce was employed under the ministry.
The committee had instituted a task force to undertake a detailed study and it submitted its findings to the committee, but a final proposal is still pending from the committee, said Labour Minister Dorji Wangdi last year when asked by members of the National Council. He had also said that "the minimum wage was a complex economic issue and would affect not only employment but also the economy."
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Source: Kuensel Online, March 10, 2011
India
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">China sends positive signal on boundary talks
The Chinese Government has said that it was ready to take forward the negotiations with India over the long-running border dispute, and that the two countries’ relationship was now stable enough for a settlement to be reached.
Mr. Li Zhaoxing, chairman of the NPC’s Foreign Affairs Committee, said that the setting up of the Special Representatives mechanism in 2003 and the agreement on political parameters in 2005 had helped to create the momentum in the long-running talks, which have made some progress. The two countries have had 14 rounds of talks, and are now engaged in framework negotiations based on the 2005 agreement.
Responding to a question on concerns voiced by China’s neighbours, including India, about the country’s rising military expenditure, Mr. Li said China’s defence-spending as a share of its GDP was still lower than that of most countries.
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Source: The Hindu, March 05, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Lashkar plots attack on World Cup stadiums
Intelligence agencies have unearthed a suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) conspiracy to attack one or more venues of the on-going World Cup cricket matches in the country. Inputs indicated that in October 2010, the Pakistan-based LeT cadre, Zaibuddin Ansari, or his associates, had researched information pertaining to explosive chemical substances and the stadiums where the 2011 World Cup matches were to be played.
The suspects allegedly analysed eight cricket stadiums in India, including the Sardar Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad, Chinnaswamy Stadium in Bangalore and M A Chidambaram Stadium at Chepauk in Chennai. Authorities confirmed that adequate security arrangements were in place at all the venues.
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Source: The Hindu, March 08, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">IBSA averse to no-fly zone over Libya
India, Brazil and South Africa (IBSA) have expressed their aversion to the move by some western countries to impose a military solution on the civil war in Libya.
In a joint communiqué issued here by their Foreign Ministers, the three countries "underscored that a no-fly zone on the Libyan air space or any coercive measures additional to those foreseen in Resolution 1970 can only be legitimately contemplated in full compliance with the U.N. Charter and within the Security Council of the United Nations.’’
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Source: The Hindu, March 09, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">India-U.S. defence meetings
In the backdrop of the approaching US-India Strategic Dialogue meetings in New Delhi this spring, the 11th U.S.-India Defence Policy Group (DPG) met in Washington during March 3-4 for extensive discussions on strengthening bilateral defence ties, particularly in the areas of maritime security, counterterrorism, disaster relief, and personnel exchanges.
In a statement, the Indian Embassy said that both sides had "welcomed the removal of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) and Bharat Dynamics Limited from the US Entities List", especially as this relaxation of restrictions would likely open up new opportunities for cooperation in the field of defence supplies and industrial and technological cooperation between the two countries more generally.
During the meetings, the reports of four sub-groups of the DPG were reviewed and a policy-level dialogue was held on the global strategic and security situation.
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Source: The Hindu, March 11, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Fake currency from Pakistan a threat to Indian economy: US
India faces a burgeoning inflow of high-quality counterfeit currency that is primarily produced in Pakistan and then smuggled into India through multiple international routes, according to the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) of the US State Department. India was particularly vulnerable to such illicit currency flows given its location between heroin-producing countries in the Golden Triangle and Golden Crescent, the INCSR explained.
The INCSR is an annual report presented to the US Congress and its purpose is to describe the efforts of key countries to attack all aspects of the international drug trade during 2010.While a key focus of the INCSR was the drug and chemical control, a significant section of the report considered the impact of money-laundering and financial crimes in the context of narcotics production and distribution.
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Source: The Hindu, March 05, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Guidelines for mercy killing
The Supreme Court has allowed passive mercy killing of a patient in a permanent vegetative state (PVS) by withdrawing the life support system with the approval of a medical board and on the directions of the High Court concerned. The Bench, however, held illegal active mercy killing of a patient suffering from acute ailment with a poisonous injection or by other means.
A Bench comprising Justices Markandey Katju and Gyan Sudha Misra, however, did not accept the plea of Pinky Viranai, seeking permission to withdraw life-support to her friend, Aruna Ramachandra Shanbaug, who has been lying in a PVS in the KE M Hospital Mumbai for 37 years. Though it dismissed the petition on the ground that she did not have anylocus standi and that only the hospital could make such a request, the Bench allowed passive euthanasia and laid down guidelines for the purpose.
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Source: The Hindu, March 08, 2011
Maldives
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">DRP backs Thasmeen against Gayoom’s kin
Members of the Dhivehi Rayyithunge Party (DRP) are claimed to be throwing their weight behind current leader Ahmed Thasmeen Ali after he came under criticism from the family of his predecessor and former President, Maumoon Abdul Gayoom. In a statement, the DRP said that all policy decisions adopted by the party were made by majority decision agreed upon by an internal council. "Therefore, the leader is required to execute any decision made by the council.
In a DhiTV interview earlier, Gayoom’s daughter Yumna Maumoon had accused Thasmeen of "spreading" autocratic rule. According to her, DRP members were concerned that Thasmeen was ruling the party dictatorially, as well as failing to properly oppose the Government of President Mohamed Nasheed.
Yumna’s observations and the DRP rebuttals have added further weight to a split within the party down factional lines between various MPs, though none of them were involved in either statement.
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Source: Minivan News, March 06, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Decentralisation would add to fiscal woes: MPs
As the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its latest update on the Maldives’ finances, prominent opposition MPs have criticised the government’s budget strategy in areas such as decentralisation, despite conceding the need for greater political cooperation from rival parties.
Ahmed Nazim, MP for the People’s Alliance (PA) party and a member of the Majlis’ Public Finance Committee, said that the present Government’s policy was ultimately stifling economic development, claiming administrative costs within the civil service remained a notable problem. "We have small percentage (of funds) to invest in the economy. We cannot move finances to a higher level though as the government doesn’t have the right policies to do this," he claimed.
The comments were made as the IMF claimed that the Maldives economy was currently "unsustainable" even after cuts made to the annual 2011 budget, as it concluded its Article IV consultation. The IMF’s Mission Chief to the Maldives, Rodrigo Cubero, said that while the Government had introduced the core components of a modern tax regime that would begin generating revenue from this year, these achievements were offset by new spending on legislative reforms such as the decentralisation act.
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Source: Minivan News, March 05, 2011
Nepal
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">Panel resolves 30 constitutional issues
A sub-committee of the Constitutional Committee (CC) has resolved 30 different disputed issues pending before the Constituent Assembly’s Committee for Determining the Structure of the Legislative Body.
A meeting of the sub-committee held in Singha Durbar agreed to conduct compulsory general elections within the six months of the dissolution of Parliament. As per the agreement, the House cannot be reinstated once it is dissolved. According to the Nepali Congress parliamentary leader and sub-committee member Ram Chandra Paudel, the meeting failed to arrive at any decision on the election model to be adopted during the upcoming general elections.
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Source: www.nepalnews.com, March 10, 2011
< class="heading12boldGeorgia">UML faction-feud on the rise
Secretary of ruling CPN (UML) Ishwor Pokharel has denied the possibility of creating a separate State security force comprising mostly former Maoist combatants just because the recent seven-point deal signed between Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal and Maoist Chairman Pushpa Kamal Dahal states so. Trying to allay fears of non-Maoist parties on the formation of such a force, he said only the Army Integration Special Committee (AISC) can decide on the matter of integration of Maoist combatants and that the chairmen of two parties reaching separate understanding on the issue won’t mean anything.
Pokharel said that Nepali Congress and Madhes-based parties will soon be inducted into the current Government, clarifying that the Government led by Prime Minister Jhala Nath Khanal does not exclusively belong to leftist parties. Pokharel, who was speaking at a programme organized by Press Chautari Nepal in the capita of Kathmandu, said that efforts are on to turn the UML-led coalition government into a national unity government. "In order to achieve that goal, UML will exercise maximum flexibility while allocating ministerial portfolios to other parties interested in joining the government," he said.
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Source: www.nepalnews.com, March 10, 2011
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Contributors:
Afghanistan & Pakistan: Kaustav Dhar Chakraborti;
Bangladesh: Joyeeta Bhattacharjee;
India: Akhilesh Variar;
Nepal & Bhutan: Anjali Sharma;
Maldives & Sri Lanka: N SathiyaMoorthy;
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