Many of the drones, if not all, take off from somewhere in the Pakistan though both sides are tightlipped on this fact. Yet, the foreign office of the Pakistani government reacts sharply every time a drone picks up a militant target and fires at it. This is a proforma exercise.
Drone attacks on Aug 18 and 19 were the deadliest in recent weeks. With this there were four drone attacks in one week, taking the numbers for this year to 33 — 29 of them in North Waziristan and four in South Waziristan.
The gravity of the strikes probably made the Pakistan foreign office to summon a senior US diplomat on Thursday August 24 to deliver a protest note. Because, as the London-based Bureau of Investigative Journalism points out, as many as 284 drone strikes have been carried out by the Obama administration, which is presently in the re-election mode. The tally since 2004 stands at 336 drone strikes and toll at between 2,532 and 3,251 people
The US State Department has confirmed that Pakistan’s ministry of foreign affairs had lodged its first formal protest over the drone strikes. ‘I can confirm that one of our diplomats (in Islamabad) did meet with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today (Aug 24)’, a State Department official said in Washington. But he offered no comments on Pakistan’s official statement on that meeting.
Even the Pakistani spokesman remained economical on what transpired at the meeting to deliver the protest note to the US diplomat. Moazzam Ahmad Khan, the spokesman of the foreign office, said Islamabad preferred to bilaterally address the issue of drones with the US ‘though several other options are available’. He did not elaborate on these ‘other options’.
He also sounded optimistic of reaching a mutually acceptable solution to the drone attacks. ‘We are engaging the US leadership at various levels on this issue and are working on various proposals. We hope to come up with a mutually acceptable solution’, Moazzam Khan said at his briefing. Again he remained economical on details. So, these proposals said to be under discussion remained wrapped in a mystery.
There have been reports that Pakistan has proposed the use of F-16 jets to target militant hideouts, but the suggestion was shot down by Americans. Some reports said that Pakistan had sought drone technology and offered to mount the drone attacks itself but the proposal met with negatived by the Americans. There are also reports that Pakistan has suggested various models for co-ownership of the strikes. These proposals met with lukewarm response from Washington which has been familiar with Pakistani duplicity in the war against terrorism.
While asserting that ‘I am not in a position to discuss these proposals’, the spokesman stuck to the familiar Pakistani refrain – ‘the attacks by CIA-operated pilotless planes are illegal, counter-productive, violation of our sovereignty, territorial integrity and in contravention of international law’.
Pakistan-US relations don’t belong to the conventional mode. These are much more than client-master equation; both sides have a vested interest in the way the bilateral ties have been fashioned and maintained.
Both sides also know that each side has brought to the table a form of unilateralism and this has made them work at cross purposes even while professing abiding loyalty to each other.
Frankly, there is a clearly pronounced deception game at play. Hussain Haqqani, who survived the memogate, largely because of the backchannel pressures exerted by his American friends, is absolutely right when he advised that Pakistan and the US should end the pretence of being allies. His prescription: divorce.
Pakistan’s establishment is unlikely to heed the journalist turned diplomat’s advice. It knows the art of survival unaffected by conflicting distractions. Pakistan is shining example of this trait despite being labeled as failed state. So, asked about Haqqani advice, the Pakistan foreign office spokesman turned to diplomatisque. He said relationship with Washington was important and that there was ‘mutual desire to move ahead on the basis of mutual respect and interest’. .
Pressed further, he replied: ‘both Pakistan and the US are already very objective and pragmatic about this relationship’. It may sound as a matter of fact response but has an element of truth, undeniably, as observers of Pak-US equations can testify.
