Adil Najam
Flicking through Pakistani TV channels I note that all of Pakistan’s mediadom seems to be waiting for imminent release of new documents on WikiLeaks, reportedly including communication from US officials on Pakistan, Pakistanis, Pakistani politicians, and Pakistani agencies and officials.
News junkie that I am, I must confess that I, too, am waiting for Wikileaks. But I am not really sure ‘what’ I am waiting for – or anticipating to hear – from Wikileaks. Nor, do I think, does anyone else. At least any Pakistani. Maybe that is what makes the entire episode so enticing. But it also shows just how messed up US-Pakistan relations really are today.
Amidst all the talk about how dangerous the leaks might be and how they might spoil relations between the US and its supposed ‘allies,’ I wonder exactly what we might find from the leaked documents that would really ‘surprise’ any Pakistani leader, or Pakistani journalist, or any Pakistani for that matter?
Would we, for example, learn that US officials have no trust in or respect for any Pakistani leader, or for Pakistanis, or for Pakistan? And if we did, would that really be a surprise or ‘news’ for anyone in Pakistan or in the US?
Or, maybe, the leaked documents will tell us that the US has continued and plans to continue an illegal, immoral and ineffective campaign of drone attacks into the territory of one of its closest ‘allies’? That despite their apparent protestations the Pakistan government has remained cognizant but acted ignorant of this campaign? That these attacks have consumed more civilian life than military targets, increased anti-Americanism in Pakistan? And if they did, would that be a surprise for anyone who has watched TV news or opened a Pakistani newspaper at anytime in the last year?
Maybe they will reveal that the amount of contempt that Pakistani institutions and officials have for the US is matched only by the contempt that US institutions and officials have for Pakistan? Or that the Pakistan’s favorite pundit sport of ‘blame it on America’ is no different from America’s favorite pundit sport of ‘blame it on Pakistan’? And if it does, who, pray tell me, is supposed to be surprised by that?
Of course, I do realize that the entire point of a ‘surprise’ is that it cannot be anticipated. That, after all, is the point of calling it a surprise. Indeed, there will be surprises. More than that there will be validation of that which we already believed. And most of all there will be details. All of these will keep the news wheels grinding – in their different styles and rhythms, but with equal but inconsequential fervor – in both Pakistan and USA.
But the real and most important revelation that these particular Wikileaks could make about US-Pakistan relations has already come out in the run-up frenzy to the leaks: The US-Pakistan relationship is at such a low point in both USA and in Pakistan that nothing – well, maybe ‘nearly’ nothing – can make the trust deficit too much worse than it already is.
These are not Wikileaks. These are LameLeaks. There is nothing there that is new. I think this show has run its course already.
On WikiLeaks we move on from the right reverend ‘Custodian of the Two Two Mosques’ to another Arab articulating his views on Pakistan’s leaders:
According to WikiLeaks:
In July 2009, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and de facto defense chief, said Zardari was “dirty but not dangerous.” Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was “dangerous but not dirty — this is Pakistan.” He said Sharif, who heads the main opposition party to Zardari, could not be trusted to honor his promises.
The analysis here was correct.
Whatever we heard from these leaks is so much more mild than what we hear on our talk shows every day!
Latest from Reuters:
* Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah speaking scathingly about President Asif Ali Zardari, calling him the greatest obstacle to that country’s progress. “When the head is rotten,” it quoted the him as saying, “it affects the whole body.”
Zardari’s office responded by saying the president regards the king as an “elder brother.” “The so-called leaks are no more than an attempt to create misperceptions between two important and brotherly Muslim countries,” his spokesman Farhatullah Babar told Reuters.
* In July 2009, Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed, Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and de facto defense chief, said Zardari was “dirty but not dangerous.” Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was “dangerous but not dirty — this is Pakistan.” He said Sharif, who heads the main opposition party to Zardari, could not be trusted to honor his promises.
* A rail link between Iran and Pakistan would be delayed for the foreseeable future because of unrest from Baluch militants in both countries. “The current rail connection, running between Quetta, Pakistan and Zahedan, Iran is in poor condition and has low freight-carrying capacity. Moreover, according to reports it has recently been repeatedly subject to rocket attacks and other disruption by Baluchi tribes.”
* Likewise, a natural gas pipeline agreement between Iran and Pakistan, signed with great fanfare earlier this year, is unlikely to bear fruit anytime soon because “the Pakistanis don’t have the money to pay for either the pipeline, or the gas.”
No one should be surprised as to what the ‘Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques’ thinks of the current President of Pakistan.
What is more interesting is what Wikileaks exposes about our previous President. Wikileaks has also published a diplomatic a cable sent by the US Ambassador in Israel to Washington. In this document the Ambassador relates that in his August 2007 meeting with the Mossad Chief, General Meir Dagan, the boss of the Mossad expressed support for Musharraf and his deep concern for Musharraf’s political future.
This is not all that surprising when one comes to think about it.
In 2005 the German magazine Der Spiegel interviewed Musharraf (28 May 2005 edition) in which our former President went out of his way to praise Ariel Sharon as ‘a bold man, a great soldier, a courageous leader’. The fact that Sharon has been implicated – by the Israeli government itself and subsequently sacked from his job as Minister for Defence) – in the savage and brutal 1982 massacre at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps in Lebanon where 3500 innocent civilians (unarmed men, women and children) were slaughtered seems to have escaped the Commando President.
What intrigues me is: Why were the Israelis and Musharraf scratching each others backs? I think the citizens of Pakistan need to know more about this whole episode.
Der Spiegel Extract:
DER SPIEGEL: Will Sharon succeed or will he be stopped by religious extremists?
MUSHARRAF: He is a bold man, a great soldier, a courageous leader