Corralled and constrained, Pakistan struggles to find feet against US
Monday, April 16, 2018 IST
WASHINGTON: Crossed red lines, jumped red lights and a relationship that is anything but red hot. The already frigid and flaccid ties between the United States and Pakistan continue to spiral down with reports suggesting both countries are poised to constraint diplomats from the other side from free movement in tit-for-tat action following yet another spat involving what Islamabad alleges is reckless behaviour by an American diplomat.
The new row, recalling the notorious Raymond David episode in 2011 in which an undercover CIA contractor was charged with killing two Pakistanis in a highway shootout, centers this time on US military attaché Col Joseph Emanuel. In footage that has been widely and repeatedly telecast on Pakistani television since the April 7 incident, the American official allegedly jumped a red light in Islamabad, smashing into a motorcycle coming crossroad and causing the death of the rider and injury to one other person.
He was apprehended by Pakistani authorities after he left the scene and taken to a police station, but he had to be freed on account of his having diplomatic immunity as per the Geneva Convention. He remains at the US mission in Islamabad, amid continuing tensions about a resolution to the case.
Pakistani officials have since been insisting that Col Emanuel be prosecuted and put on trial either in Pakistan or in the US, even as the family of the man killed has gone to court demanding that he be arrested, and the police have sought to put him on the exit control list.
Apologies from the US Ambassador over the accident after he was summoned to the Pakistani foreign office has not pacified hardliners in the Pakistani establishment already smarting under Washington’s tough new policy towards Islamabad, including holding it accountable for terrorism-related incidents.
While the Raymond Davis case was largely resolved by paying ''blood money'' to families of the victims, the establishment in Pakistan does not appear to be considering such a possibility this time. The situation has been aggravated by what some sections of the Pakistani media saw as humiliating treatment of the country’s prime minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi during a recent visit to the US, when he had to go through security checks sans protocol, although Abbasi himself maintained he was on a private visit and did not mind the checks.
It now transpires that both sides are hardening their positions, with Washington reportedly notifying Pakistan that its diplomats in Washington DC will have to get special permission to travel beyond a 40km perimeter around the capital. While officials in Islamabad and Washington have denied the new strictures arise from the Col Emanuel episode (the US notification predates the Emanuel incident), the Dawn newspaper reported that notice to this effect was shared with the Pakistan Embassy in Washington and sent also to the ministry of foreign affairs in Islamabad, indicating that the restrictions could be imposed from May 1 ''if certain issues remained unresolved.''
The unresolved issues are many. Even before the current spat and Washington’s hardball response, Pakistan had not endeared itself to the Trump administration with its relentless patronage of terrorist groups and extremist leaders despite mealy-mouthed pledges that it is cracking down on terrorism. Islamabad’s attempt to mainstream UN- and US-designated terrorist leaders such as Hafiz Saeed, under the specious excuse that its courts had not convicted, did not go down well with the Trump administration given the copious evidence of his involvement in terrorism and Pakistan’s glossing over it and dragging its feet on prosecuting those involved in 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai.
Pakistan’s continued defiance of the US Afghanistan and South Asia strategy -- part of which involves recognising and acknowledging India’s primacy in the region -- has also turned off the Trump administration as it seeks a safe exit from the region.
Related Topics
Related News & Articles
ALMATY: Hour upon hour, day upon day, Omir Bekali and other detainees in far western China's new indoctrination camps had to disavow the...
Recently posted . 210K views . 2 min read
First some dermatologists in Italy found it. Now, it is being reported in the US. There is sudden surge in the cases similar to frostbite or pernio among kids in th...
Recently posted . 1K views . 2 min read
Climate change has a significant role to play in the sudden appearance and subsequent rise in population of several different insects over the last decade.
Recently posted . 653 views . 1 min read
The Commission also termed the condition of the 461 people being treated for the virus, officially known as 2019-nCoV, as “critical”
&n...
Recently posted . 713 views . 1 min read
“Girls and women are afraid”
Recently posted . 1K views . 0 min read
Trending News & Articles
ALMATY: Hour upon hour, day upon day, Omir Bekali and other detainees in far western China's new indoctrination camps had to disavow the...
Recently posted . 210K views . 1 min read
If you have payed attention to the belly buttons of people on the beach or the members of your family, you have probably noticed that they have different shapes and...
Recently posted . 10K views . 2 min read
The Langya henipavirus has a place with a similar group of infections, including Nipah, which is known to kill up to 3/4 of people in extreme cases.
Recently posted . 5K views . 1 min read
Queen's death: The eldest of her four children, Charles, Prince of Wales, who at 73 was the oldest heir apparent in British history, became king immediately...
Recently posted . 5K views . 1 min read
More in Global
Haya Bint Al Hussein fled the United Arab Emirates (UAE) along with her two children following the break-up of her marriage.
Recently posted. 758 views . 0 min read
We have all polished the dull, continued looking through when attempting to book the most
Recently posted. 753 views . 3 min read