The Hindu : Pak. debates ties with Israel

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Sep 06, 2003

National

National

Pak. debates ties with Israel

By C. Raja Mohan

NEW DELHI Sept. 5. As India and Israel showcase their special relationship next week, speculation about Pakistan's plans to establish diplomatic ties with the Jewish state refuses to go away. Despite repeated assertions in Islamabad that political links with Tel Aviv are not imminent, the question now is ``when'' and not ``if'' Pakistan should begin an engagement with Israel.

Tel Aviv, naturally, is eager to have bilateral relations with as many important nations as possible. Normalisation of relations with Pakistan, a leading Islamic country abutting West Asia, would indeed be a major diplomatic gain for Israel. But the ball is in Pakistan's court.

That Islamabad is debating a new approach to Israel is signalled by none other than the President of Pakistan, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a few weeks ago. ``Do we have to be more Catholic than the Pope or more Palestinian than the Palestinians themselves'' Gen. Musharraf asked in an interview with a television channel in early July.

Gen. Musharraf added: ``Is that the correct attitude? Or should we make a change? We must reach a national consensus on the subject, rather than leaving it to the emotionalism of the extremists.''

The reaction to Gen. Musharraf's comments was low-key but positive in Israel. A senior official of the Israeli Foreign Ministry said, ``We have no diplomatic or border problems with Pakistan... We have no reason for any hostility. We would be happy to have relations with Pakistan.''

Tel Aviv is certainly aware of the intense opposition in Islamabad towards normalising relations with Israel, particularly from the Islamic parties which are on the rise in Pakistan.

Gen. Musharraf's remarks were widely interpreted as an attempt to test the political waters for a change of line on Israel and initiate a public debate. His statements came after reports in the Pakistani press that the Foreign Office had made a study of the costs and benefits of engaging Israel and had recommended in favour of moving forward.

Neutralising the special relationship with India, or at least inducing some balance into the Israeli policy towards the subcontinent, are at the top of the list of arguments in Islamabad in favour of opening links with Tel Aviv.

The flow of arms and sophisticated military technology to India from Israel is a major concern for Pakistan which wants to limit it and explore the potential for a defence sales relationship of its own with Tel Aviv. Pakistan would also like to reduce the salience of the perceived threat from Israel to its nuclear weapons programme.

Pakistan also senses that improvement of ties with Israel will bring political dividends in Washington and constrain the current intensive coordination there between the lobbying efforts of the Indian and Jewish communities.

Ever since India took advantage of the peace process in West Asia in the early 1990s to engage Israel, Pakistan too has had serious internal debates on how best to deal with Israel.

There have also been reports of frequent contacts between the officials of the two sides on the margins of multilateral conferences. There has also been some interaction at the non-government level.

Well-placed sources here say that in late 1999, the Pakistan Prime Minister, Nawaz Sharif, was all set to briefly halt in Tel Aviv during his travels in West Asia.

The visit is believed to have been organised during an official contact between the two sides at an international conference in Almaty. But the coup in October 1999 prevented Mr. Sharif from completing his mission to Israel.

India does not believe it has a veto over Israel's ties with Pakistan. It is inevitable that one day in the not-too-distant future, Islamabad and Tel Aviv would have some kind of a relationship.

While a decision on full-fledged diplomatic ties might not pass muster in Pakistan today, there are a variety of ways in which the two sides could create and nurture their relationship.

Amid its own expanding ties with Israel, New Delhi would want Tel Aviv to be fully sensitive to India's security concerns when dealing with Pakistan.

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

National