As if Pakistan does not already have its platter full with its own problems, 2007 has seen President Musharraf trying to tackle the Middle East problem; which is easily one of the most complex issues of the world today. In what is popularly known as the “Middle East Initiative”, Musharraf sought to hold talks with like minded countries regarding the conflict in the Middle East. He flew to several Muslim capitals in the world, meeting Prime Ministers, Presidents, and kings. The Initiative was born.
The seven plus one conference
In a further development, last week the president hosted Foreign Ministers of six Muslim countries - Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey - and a representative of the Organisation of Islamic Conference. These officials held talks on various issues in the West Asian region, from Palestine to Iraq, Iran, and Lebanon. A joint declaration was made at the end of the conference calling for the immediate establishment of a Palenstinian State with East Jerusalem as its capital. It also delineated the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the occupied Syrian and Lebanese territories.
Other than this, the conference further expressed deep concern over the rise of tension because of the Iranian nuclear issue and called for a diplomatic solution rather than a coercive one.
Views regarding the Initiative
There are two major strands of thought prevailing inside Pakistan regarding the possible success of Musharraf’s Middle East Initiative. One group sees this diplomatic venture as being a corollary of Pakistan’s existing role in the war on terror. This group believes that the root cause of terrorism emerges from anger over the unresolved issue of Palestine, and given Musharraf’s straightforward and pragmatic approach to politics, he could be an ideal candidate to form an initiative. It is also believed by these experts that since Pakistan is the only Muslim nation who is a frontline ally of the US in the war on terror, and since Pakistan has its own fight against internal and border extremism, it is an extremely relavent power to lead such an initiative.
General Musharraf himself believes that
“since the West is looking and searching for methods and new ideas of bringing peace to the region I think any new idea, any new initiative would be acceptable to them as long as it is workable and credible and acceptable to all.”
However, there is also another set of experts who strongly believe that such an initiative would never be successful, for multiple reasons. They question his qualifications to lead such a complex initiative when he already has severe problems waiting to be dealt with in his own country, such as Kashmir and Balochistan. These experts also question the fact whether Musharraf might be making this huge diplomatic gesture in order to secure his political career which seems to be on the dcline recently. Such an initiative would help him to gain invaluable leverage with the US, especially since the US does not seem very pleased with Pakistan’s effort in the war on terror recently.
Other reasons for the failure of such an initiative include strategic factors such as the trust deficit which exists between staunch islamist countries such as Iran and US “pawns” like Pakistan. This is probably why Iran, Syria, Iraq, Palestine and even Lebanon were all missing conspicuously from the intiative table. The success of an initiative in the Middle East without the cooperation of these significant players of the region.
It can thus be concluded that the initiative has more critics than supporters. Whether Musharraf’s dream initiative actually reaches anywhere and whether it achieves any breakthroughs is not something which can be predicted. But its highly unlikely to make an impact without the cooperation of all the major players of the region. Also, Pakistan needs to be doing this for the right reasons. If it is taking these measures merely to reamin in the good books of the US, it will only make matters worse by accentuating the power play. Hopefully, the whole ordeal fades away without making any harmful incisions.
Via: The Hindu
