Before she embarked for America, critics had laid into prime minister Benazir Bhutto for planning on taking along a huge entourage. In the event, a quarter of the aircraft was unoccupied. Of the 40 entourage members, 17 were officials meant to undertake specific tasks during the trip; 9 were journalists representing different newspapers; and apart from the prime minister, her spouse and mother (plus two maids and a valet), the only “guests” on board were Mr and Mrs Hamid Nasir Chattha and their two sons, a personal friend, and the wives of Interior Minister Naseerullah Babar and Special Assistant Shahid Hasan Khan. Punjab Governor Chaudry Altaf Hussain and his son hitched a ride because Chaudhry Sahib was due for a medical check-up in New York. This is hardly the sort of list about which we should carp.
Critics had also fumed about a “fashion show” planned at the end of an investment conference in Washington. They said that the show would “trivialise” the occasion and incur the displeasure of Ms Bhutto’s hosts. But that is not the way it turned out. Although the event was not terribly innovative or brilliant, it seemed to go down well with our American guests and no one can say that it flaunted values alien to Pakistan.
Cynicism was also expressed regarding the billions of dollars worth of MOUs that were meant to be signed during investment conferences in Washington. “The MOUs are not worth the paper they are written on”, it was said, “there will be no investment on the ground”. However, those who were present at the conferences and the round table discussions involving Pakistani and American officials and American CEOs have come away with an altogether different perspective. The conferences were professionally organised and well attended. Mrs Hazel O’Leary, the US energy secretary, gave such a stunning performance in support of Pakistani initiatives that even Ms Bhutto had to admit that Mrs O’Leary’s “act would be very difficult to follow”. The US energy secretary forcefully explained to American businessmen why she put Pakistan at the top of her list of seven Big Emerging Markets (BEMs), ahead of India, China, Malaysia and Indonesia, despite the fact that only US$ 10 billion out of US$ 164 billion in the 7 BEMs has thus far been earmarked for Pakistan by American businessmen. The same sort of exceptional response came from Mr Ken Brodie (president, US EXIM bank) and commerce secretary Ron Brown.
All said and done, however, the fact remains that the Pressler amendment is alive and kicking and the Americans have given us no categorical public assurances about when and if it will be scrapped. This means that the F-16s are not about to wing their way to Pakistan and the US Overseas Private Investment Corp is still barred from insuring US Private foreign investment in Pakistan. There is no immediate US move to mediate the Kashmir dispute. And Washington continues to discriminate against Pakistan on the Missile Technology Control Regime. So what did Benazir Bhutto achieve by going to America?
While India and Israel have long recognised the necessity of establishing strong support groups in the US Congress in furtherance of their interests, Ms Bhutto is the first Pakistani prime minister to initiate a serious dialogue with senior members of both Houses of Congress. By all accounts, her discussions with leaders of Congress — Senators Helms, Brown, Nunn and Dole and Representatives Gillman, Ackerman and Gednjensen — were held in a sympathetic environment. Ms Bhutto not only broke the ice with Congress, she also compelled The Washington Post to conclude: “Not only does the status quo disadvantage and discriminate against Pakistan, American policy has failed to reverse Pakistan’s nuclear programme, or India’s, or draw them into a political and security dialogue and may even have added to India’s inclination to evade dialogue…At the least, Pakistan should get its money back”. The Wall Street Journal, another stolid establishment-oriented paper, reported that Defence Secretary William Perry told Ms Bhutto that the US would try to sell the aircraft and refund the money to Pakistan. “Bhutto may boost pressure on the US to lift a ban on the delivery of the F-16s”, acknowledged the paper.
Ms Bhutto’s success lies in the fact that, unlike our previous leaders, she has not tried to conceal the facts or fob off the Americans. She has been firm and unequivocal about Pakistan’s national security concerns. She has scaled the moral high ground by reminding America of its obligations and responsibilities towards a friend of long standing. And she has boldly interfaced with the broad contours of emerging American foreign policy under the Clinton administration by stressing the necessity of a “broad based relationship” grounded in the realities of emerging economic markets.
Foreign policy initiatives take time to demonstrate their significance. Therefore, the dividends should not be expected to come overnight. Benazir Bhutto has done a bloody good job and we should be generous enough to give her credit for it.