Pakistan-US Relations Will No Longer Be Secret

Published in Guangming
(China) on 14 April 2012
by Zhou Rong (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Brian Tawney. Edited by Adam Talkington .
The parliament of Pakistan, in a joint session of the Senate and the National Assembly, passed a set of “Policy Guidelines for Pakistani Relations with the United States” on April 12 using a secret ballot. This required that the U.S. cease to use drones to bomb Pakistani tribal areas, demanded the U.S. to issue a public and unconditional apology for the NATO bombing raid that killed 24 Pakistani officers and soldiers on Nov. 26 of last year, required that the Pakistani government press the U.S. to take legal action against those responsible for the NATO attack on the Pakistani checkpoint and guarantee that such attacks and other activities that infringe on Pakistani national sovereignty will not occur again. [The new set of policies] require that the Pakistani government not permit any foreign power to use Pakistani territory to engage in espionage activities directed against another country or to establish a military base, and that the U.S. government not use Pakistani territory and airspace to transport weaponry to U.S. and allied forces in Afghanistan.

The above-mentioned document also makes a series of recommendations to the Pakistani government. First, the Pakistani government should review its policies towards the United States. Further, it should formulate and pursue a policy of independent foreign relations according to the Pakistani constitution and the interests of Pakistan’s ethnic groups, and not make policy according to the interests of foreign powers. And finally, the document emphasizes that Pakistani relations with America must be built on a foundation of mutual and respectful independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity.

This document also sets conditions on the making of Pakistani foreign policy, requesting the Pakistani government to respect the wishes and feelings of the people of Pakistan in formulating foreign policy and mandating that no commitments made to foreign powers may done so orally; rather, they must all undergo parliamentary ratification. Furthermore, the strategic decisions of the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan must receive approval from other relevant departments of the Pakistani government. The document requests the government of Pakistan to continue to deepen its all-encompassing, comprehensive strategic relations with China, to continue to strengthen its strategic relations with Russia and emphasizes that the dialogue with India must continue toward the resolution — using peaceful means on the basis of mutual respect — of the two countries’ unsettled problems. The document also emphasizes that maintaining peace and stability in Afghanistan is one of the cornerstones of Pakistani foreign policy.

This is the first time in the history of Pakistan that foreign policy decisions have been made by parliament. The U.S. ambassador to Pakistan said that he was reading carefully through the document but had no comment yet. This reporter interviewed some analysts who specialize in Pakistani strategic and foreign relations and who believe that the document issued through parliament shows that Pakistan has, for the first time, demonstrated a unanimous and wide-ranging consensus across the entire country with regard to policy on the U.S. They also believe that, after this, Pakistani-U.S. relations will no longer remain secret. How Pakistan-U.S. relations improve after this will depend to a large degree on the political will of the Pakistani people, regardless of whether the U.S. apologizes openly to Pakistan. It will never again be a simple matter of America’s conduct in foreign relations; rather, it will be a question of whether the U.S. is willing to respect the major decisions of the will of the people of Pakistan.

At the same time, this document makes it clear that Pakistan is willing to improve its relations with the United States on the basis of mutual respectful independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity. Although the Pakistani parliament refuses to allow the U.S. to use Pakistani territory to transport weaponry to American and NATO allied forces in Afghanistan, they did not raise the issue of whether the U.S. could provide logistical support for American forces in Afghanistan using Pakistani supply lines. In doing so, the Parliament of Pakistan did not refuse to re-open Pakistani supply lines for the U.S. and, NATO, leaving significant leeway on this issue for both sides. Some commentators have said that, from this point forward, Pakistan will no longer be the irregular, unhappy “non-NATO ally” of the United States, but will have normal national relations. Pakistani-U.S. relations will cease to possess a “special” status. Some Western diplomats in Pakistan believe that, following the killing of Bin Laden and the approaching end of the war in Afghanistan, the honeymoon between America and Pakistan will cease to exist.

This method of passing an advisory document on policy to the U.S. by means of the Pakistani parliament demonstrates that, from now on, Pakistani foreign policy will cease to be the sole domain of the Pakistani military and the Foreign Ministry of Pakistan, but must instead pass through the parliament — the highest mechanism of popular will. This resolution received the support of Pakistan’s army and government, showing that neither the Pakistani military nor the Pakistani government are willing to have independent dealings with America under circumstances that do not have the support of public opinion. The days when the U.S. easily received Pakistan’s promises, concessions and compromises will not return.


巴基斯坦对美外交不再秘密

巴基斯坦国会(参议院和国民议会联席会议)12日以不记名投票的方式通过了《巴对美国政策的指导方针》,要求美国必须停止无人机对巴部落区的轰炸;要求美国必须对去年11月26日北约战机空袭造成24名巴官兵阵亡事件公开和无条件道歉;要求巴基斯坦政府敦促美国将北约袭击巴基斯坦检查站的责任人绳之以法,并保证此类袭击或者任何侵犯巴基斯坦主权的行径将不会再发生;要求巴政府不得允许任何外国利用巴国土从事针对别国的间谍行动或建立军事基地;要求美国政府不得使用巴领土和领空用于向阿富汗美军和北约盟军运送武器装备。
该文件还对巴基斯坦政府提出以下建议,要求巴政府重新检讨其对美国的政策;要求巴政府必须根据巴宪法和巴民族利益制定和奉行独立的外交政策,而不是根据外国利益制定政策;强调巴基斯坦与美国的关系必须建立在相互尊重独立、主权和领土完整的基础上。
该文件还对巴基斯坦外交政策的制定提出了限定条件,要求巴基斯坦政府对外政策的制定必须尊重巴基斯坦人民的意愿和情绪,任何对外国政府的承诺都不能是口头承诺,都必须经过国会批准,而巴外交部制定的决策需要征得巴政府其他各相关部门的同意等。文件要求巴政府继续深化与中国的全天候、全方位战略关系;继续加强与俄罗斯的战略关系;强调与印度的对话进程将继续下去,必须在相互尊重的基础上以和平方式解决两国之间一切悬而未决的问题;强调维系阿富汗的和平与稳定是巴外交基石之一。
这是巴历史上首次通过议会来确定巴对外政策,美国驻巴大使馆称,他们正在仔细阅读这份文件,但并未就此发表评论。记者走访了一些巴基斯坦的战略和外交分析家,他们认为,通过国会发表的这份文件表明巴在对美政策方面首次实现了举国一致和广泛共识,今后巴美关系将不存在秘密外交,今后巴美关系如何改善,将很大程度上取决于巴基斯坦人民的政治意愿,不论美国是否向巴基斯坦公开道歉,将不再是单纯的美国的外交行为,而是美国是否愿意尊重巴人民意愿的重大举措。
这份文件同时也表明,巴基斯坦愿意在相互尊重独立、主权和领土完整的基础上与美国改善关系。虽然巴基斯坦国会拒绝美国利用巴国土向阿富汗美军和北约盟军运送武器装备,但并没有提到美国是否可以通过巴基斯坦运输线向驻阿美军提供后勤给养,而在这方面,巴国会并没有拒绝为美国和北约重开巴基斯坦运输线,双方在这个问题上仍有很大的回旋余地。有一些评论称,今后巴基斯坦与美国的关系将不再是不正常、不愉快的“非北约盟国关系”,而是正常的国家关系,巴基斯坦与美国的关系将不再具有“特殊”含义。一些在巴基斯坦的西方外交官则认为,随着本·拉登的毙命和阿富汗战争的接近尾声,美国与巴基斯坦之间的“蜜月”将不复存在。
此次以巴基斯坦议会决议的方式通过对美国政策的指导性文件,表明巴今后的外交政策将不再是巴军方或者巴外交部单独制定,而必须经过最高民意机构国会。这份决议受到了巴基斯坦军队和政府的支持,表明无论是巴基斯坦军方还是巴基斯坦政府,都不愿意在没有民意支持的情况下单独与美方打交道,而美方轻易得到巴方承诺、让步和妥协的日子将一去不复返。
(光明日报伊斯兰堡4月13日电 驻伊斯兰堡记者周 戎)
This post appeared on the front page as a direct link to the original article with the above link .

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