fatman17
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Sound advice
Dawn Editorial
Thursday, 28 Jan, 2010
Transparency and openness are foundational. But so is common sense, and that is what seems to be lacking on occasion. Our advice: listen to Adm Mullen.
“ANY kind of public accusations or public finger-pointing, quite frankly, that does not serve any of us well. That doesn’t mean we won’t have disagreements. But I hope that we can do that privately, and not publicly.” We could not agree more with Adm Mike Mullen and urge Pakistani, Indian and American officials to take note of his comments.
Look at what’s happened in recent weeks. On Dec 30, 2009 The Times of India published a report with the headline ‘Army reworks war doctrine for Pakistan, China’ in which the possibility of a ‘two-front war’ with China and Pakistan was referred to. Cue pandemonium in Pakistan, where outrage at Indian army chief Deepak Kapoor’s ‘statements’ nearly caused a fresh diplomatic crisis. Meanwhile, in India itself the comments went largely unnoticed until the news of Pakistani outrage began to seep across the border. The ‘Deepak who?’ reaction in India is possibly inexplicable to Pakistanis long used to having generals occupy centre stage.
Over in China, the other ‘target’ of a two-front war, there was nary a peep and the country serenely continued to focus on its march towards economic-superpower status. Point being, Gen Kapoor’s dilation on Indian war strategy created an unnecessary and unwanted kerfuffle in Pakistan. While the comments were made in a closed-door seminar, the modern communications era demands that comments by public officials be very guarded whenever there is the slightest chance of a leak.
Just days after Gen Kapoor’s comments made the headlines in Pakistan, Prime Minister Gilani’s remarks about Pakistan being unable to guarantee that there would not be another Mumbai-style attack in India caused an uproar across the border. Like Gen Kapoor’s comments, there was nothing technically wrong with what the prime minister said. But perception is sometimes everything and to the Indian side it seemed as though the prime minister was suggesting that Pakistan will continue to sponsor and nurture jihadi groups ideologically opposed to India. Again, unnecessary and unwanted.
Then on the American side there are the routine public demands for Pakistan to ‘do more’ and act against the Haqqani network and the so-called Quetta shura — reinforcing suspicions here that the Pakistani state is fighting ‘America’s war’ and complicating the fight against militants. Once again, unnecessary and unwanted — and perhaps even self-defeating for the Americans. We are not suggesting that Pakistani, Indian and American officials start doing everything in secret and hide even more than they already do from the public. Transparency and openness are foundational. But so is common sense, and that is what seems to be lacking on occasion. Our advice: listen to Adm Mullen.
Dawn Editorial
Thursday, 28 Jan, 2010
Transparency and openness are foundational. But so is common sense, and that is what seems to be lacking on occasion. Our advice: listen to Adm Mullen.
“ANY kind of public accusations or public finger-pointing, quite frankly, that does not serve any of us well. That doesn’t mean we won’t have disagreements. But I hope that we can do that privately, and not publicly.” We could not agree more with Adm Mike Mullen and urge Pakistani, Indian and American officials to take note of his comments.
Look at what’s happened in recent weeks. On Dec 30, 2009 The Times of India published a report with the headline ‘Army reworks war doctrine for Pakistan, China’ in which the possibility of a ‘two-front war’ with China and Pakistan was referred to. Cue pandemonium in Pakistan, where outrage at Indian army chief Deepak Kapoor’s ‘statements’ nearly caused a fresh diplomatic crisis. Meanwhile, in India itself the comments went largely unnoticed until the news of Pakistani outrage began to seep across the border. The ‘Deepak who?’ reaction in India is possibly inexplicable to Pakistanis long used to having generals occupy centre stage.
Over in China, the other ‘target’ of a two-front war, there was nary a peep and the country serenely continued to focus on its march towards economic-superpower status. Point being, Gen Kapoor’s dilation on Indian war strategy created an unnecessary and unwanted kerfuffle in Pakistan. While the comments were made in a closed-door seminar, the modern communications era demands that comments by public officials be very guarded whenever there is the slightest chance of a leak.
Just days after Gen Kapoor’s comments made the headlines in Pakistan, Prime Minister Gilani’s remarks about Pakistan being unable to guarantee that there would not be another Mumbai-style attack in India caused an uproar across the border. Like Gen Kapoor’s comments, there was nothing technically wrong with what the prime minister said. But perception is sometimes everything and to the Indian side it seemed as though the prime minister was suggesting that Pakistan will continue to sponsor and nurture jihadi groups ideologically opposed to India. Again, unnecessary and unwanted.
Then on the American side there are the routine public demands for Pakistan to ‘do more’ and act against the Haqqani network and the so-called Quetta shura — reinforcing suspicions here that the Pakistani state is fighting ‘America’s war’ and complicating the fight against militants. Once again, unnecessary and unwanted — and perhaps even self-defeating for the Americans. We are not suggesting that Pakistani, Indian and American officials start doing everything in secret and hide even more than they already do from the public. Transparency and openness are foundational. But so is common sense, and that is what seems to be lacking on occasion. Our advice: listen to Adm Mullen.
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