Musharraf bid to win friends and influence people

By P. S. Suryanarayana

SINGAPORE, APRIL 3. Pakistan's Chief Executive, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, today held talks with Thailand's Prime Minister, Mr. Chuan Leekpai, in Bangkok during the final phase of an intense diplomatic foray across South East Asia for over a week. Pakistan's bid to enhance its ties with the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) was the prime focus of Gen. Musharraf's agenda in Bangkok, given Thailand's current status as the head of the ASEAN Standing Committee.

Islamabad wants to graduate to the status of ``a full dialogue partner'' of the ASEAN from that of a ``sectoral'' interlocutor. A sequential goal is to join the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), where India already rubs shoulders with some prominent global and regional players.

At the end of his talks in Bangkok, Gen. Musharraf was said to have expressed concern about the current state of Pakistan's ties with the U.S., while Thailand remained neutral on Kashmir and wanted progress in Pakistan towards a restoration of democracy there.

However, the Pakistani military ruler's talks today with Mr. Chuan acquired importance in the context of suggestions in Bangkok that Thailand could now ``rediscover'' Islamabad. While Pakistan was once as close to Thailand as ``tongue and teeth'' during the heyday of the now-defunct but U.S.-inspired South East Asia Treaty Organisation, it was noted that today's context was marked by the success which India had scored nearly a decade ago in surmounting the ``psychological barrier'' that was raised by the ASEAN as a result of its view that New Delhi and Islamabad were ``Siamese twins'' (an evocative perception in a place like Bangkok).

As Gen. Musharraf concluded his South East Asia foray, a view behind the scenes in the regional capitals was that his mission of winning friends and influencing nations (with apologies to Dale Carnegie) in this geopolitical terrain with the U.S. footprints was far from accomplished. This was traced to some reality checks.

Gen. Musharraf certainly won friends, as evident from the general acclamation that he received from a gathering of the Singapore Pakistani community and as could be discerned from the addition of Thailand to his tour-map while he was in Singapore a few days ago. However, there was also a message for Gen. Musharraf in the firm clarifications by both Indonesia and Malaysia, two prominent members of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC), that their cheerful readiness to receive him could not be construed as an endorsement of the military coup that he staged last October.

From Gen. Musharraf's standpoint, a positive sign, though, was that the Indonesian President, Mr. Abdurrahman Wahid, categorically affirmed - despite his fame as a shining knight of democracy in South East Asia - that ``We as a state would not interfere in other countries' affairs, especially those of a brother-country like Pakistan.''

However, Mr. Wahid did some plain-speaking saying Indonesia would not be inclined to meddle in Kashmir by seeking to broker an accord between India and Pakistan. Mr. Wahid's definitive hands- off policy on Kashmir was hailed by Indonesia's opinion-makers, a point of considerable significance in the world's largest Muslim- majority state with credentials as an emerging democracy.

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Section  : International
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