In this book, he provides the ultimate insider’s account of Pakistan’s foreign policy, especially the peace process with India including the Kashmir framework solution, hailed at the time as the most promising-ever dialogue between Pakistan and India since Independence.
Neither A Hawk Nor A Dove – An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy
Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri
Publisher: Penguin Group
Pages: 851; Price: Rs 999
Former Pakistan Foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri’s book deals with his country’s external relations specially during the five years when he was the political head of the foreign ministry in Islamabad from 2002 to 2007. It was a momentous period immediately following 9/11 as well as the Pakistan-India peace process that made great strides during those years.
In ‘Neither A Hawk Nor A Dove – An Insider’s Account of Pakistan’s Foreign Policy, the author insists the two neighbours were on the verge of concluding a historic framework of an agreement on the internecine Kashmir conflict, the cause of five wars between Pakistan and India including three major ones in 1947-48, 1965 and 1971 as well as the Rann of Kutch and Kargil being the other two.
During Kasuri’s term Pakistan’s foreign policy remained focussed on promotion of regional and global peace and security as well as economic and social development and the welfare of its citizens. This book is largely about Pakistan’s difficult relationship with India and attempts to normalise it. He has endeavoured to provide an authentic and personal account of his country’s foreign policy at a time when it underwent major strategic shifts to conform to
new and rapidly evolving global imperatives.
The book is essentially a memoir and not a political biography. The hostile nature of India-Pakistan relations has a strong bearing on regional security including the vital issue of enduring peace and stabilty in Afghanistan.
Improving Pakistan-India relations, therefore, is of great importance to the world. The book provides an insider’s account of the progress made by both countries in the five years that he was the Foreign minister in working on their historically acrimonious relations.
What facilitated Kasuri was his warm and cordial relationship with President Pervez Musharraf. Also after interacting closely with the powerful military establishment in Pakistan during his foreign ministership he is convinced the former is not averse to friendship with India. The Army was on board with the framework of the Kashmir settlement on which both sides had made remarkable progress through the backchannel. It addressed the possible framework towards reconciling Indo-Pak differences. “This is the first positive and definite account of the much heralded peace process by someone directly and intimately involved with it.”
During this period unprecedented progress was made on the contentious issues of Kashmir, Sir Creek and Siachen. But for the unfortunate turn of events following the removal of the Chief Justice of Pakistan Iftikhar Chaudhury by President Musharraf, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was all set to visit Pakistan following the bold and imaginative steps towards peace to sign an agreement on Sir Creek. If Singh had visited Pakistan by July or August of 2006 by which time Sir Creek was ready for signature this would have shut up the Cassandras who kept repeating that Pakistan and India were incapable of resolving any dispute bilaterally.
Kasuri remains convinced that the elaborate and detailed “diplomatic efforts made and the progress achieved during that time will not be wasted and the two sides will have to begin from where we left rather than reinvent the wheel when times for earnest dialogue and engagement are again propitious.” He warns that Pakistan and India have major fault lines which could be exploited by others if they do not resolve their disputes in a fair and just manner.
He suggests that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, particularly after his spectacular success in the 2014 general elections, expend some of this political capital by thinking creatively and out of the box although “I have been disappointed by some of the rhetoric coming from the new government recently. I nevertheless strongly believe if the new Prime Minister (Modi) is to live up to the promise of development, which formed the major plank of his election campaign, he will hopefully realise sooner than later that the experienced and wise Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee came to the conclusion regarding Pakistan-India relations after deep reflection.”
On his assuming the office of Foreign minister, President Musharraf’s first pointed question to him was “are you a hawk or a dove on India?” Sidestepping the loaded question Kasuri told the President “you will find out in due course” though he claimed he was not being reticent or evasive. Liberals find me far too conservative and conservatives feel I am too much of a liberal for their comfort.”
He came from a well-known and influential family. He grew up in Lahore known as the cultural capital of the country in the 1950s and 1060s.
People from Lahore’s political and intellectual circles regularly gathered at his house on the then famous Fane road off the historic Mall road. He was raised under contrasting influences. His mother belonged to a princely family of northern India with pro-British leanings while his father hailed from anti-colonial nationalists as well as religiously disposed pan-Islamic Punjabis. These contradictions between the maternal and paternal sides of the family inculcated a greater than usual degree of tolerance in Kasuri. His family background was also perhaps responsible for what was regarded at the foreign office as “my non-conventional views on India.”
Over the years Pakistan’s foreign policy has been shaped by two constants: India and the West, in particular the United States. Perhaps it is unfair to describe Pakistan and the US relations as “an odd couple of modern inter-state relations.” Pakistanis have started regarding the US as an unreliable partner and a fair weather friend.
