Smiles all around
Pakistan and Iran have managed to put their deep-seated differences aside in pursuit of a joint bid for peace and regional stability, reports Iffat Malik from Islamabad
President Khatami of Iran concluded a three-day official visit to Pakistan last Wednesday with a joint communiqué expressing determination to strengthen bilateral ties further. Such a communiqué, and such a visit, might be considered routine between two neighbouring Islamic countries. In the case of Iran and Pakistan, however, their history of strained relations made Khatami's visit far from routine -- one could go so far as to call it historic.
The causes of strain between Iran and Pakistan are both long-standing and diverse. They date back to the overthrow of the Shah and the markedly anti- American course pursued by the Islamic regime of Ayatollah Khomeini.
Pakistan, by contrast, under General Zia ul-Huq, drew much closer to Washington -- thanks to its role as a front- line state in the Afghan war. Once the Soviets were expelled from Afghanistan, Pakistan was unceremoniously dumped by its former ally. In spite of this, relations between the two did not improve. This was because both Tehran and Islamabad were vying for control of the post-Soviet Afghan administration. Thus, the emergence of the Taliban was seen as a blessing for Pakistan, and a dilemma for Iran.
While Pakistan supported the Taliban and backed them in the hope of eventual influence, Iran actively supported the opposition Northern Alliance. Tehran and Islamabad thus backed opposing sides in the Afghan civil war.
An additional cause of Pakistani- Iranian tension was sectarian violence within Pakistan. Islamabad accused Iran of backing Shi'a extremist groups in the country as part of a proxy war against Saudi Arabia, which was backing rival Sunni extremists.
The resultant sectarian clashes claimed dozens of Pakistani lives. But there were also Iranian victims: a number of its citizens, including Sadiq Ganji, the director of the Iranian Cultural Centre in Lahore, were killed by Sunni groups. Tehran's anger at the murders was exacerbated by what it saw as the Pakistani government's reluctance to punish those responsible. Ganji's killer, Haq Nawaz Jhangvi, was convicted and sentenced to death in 1991, but it was not until February 2000 that the execution was carried out.
Jhangvi's hanging, and the altered situation in Afghanistan, has paved the way for a mutually beneficial improvement in relations between Pakistan and Iran. The Taliban, a prior source of difference between the two countries, have been removed from the scene. President Musharraf's government has had no choice but to recognise the Northern Alliance-dominated Karzai administration. Iran and Pakistan now have a common interest in promoting peace and stability in the new Afghanistan: it is the route by which the land-locked countries of Central Asia can export their gas and natural resources. The two neighbours also have shared concerns about a possible US war against Iraq and its consequent destabilising effect on the whole region.
Finally, there are economic gains to be made from co-operation. Apart from bilateral trade, Iran is keen to build economic links with India. Prominent among these is supplying Iranian natural gas to India. The only route for this supply would be through Pakistan -- other routes such as via the sea are simply not feasible.
This was the context of President Khatami's visit to Pakistan -- a history of strained relations, but mutual interest in improving those relations.
President Khatami was accompanied on his three-day trip by a team of senior ministers and advisers. Their presence reflecting the wide-ranging nature of discussions between the Iranian leader and his Pakistani counterparts, President Musharraf and newly appointed Prime Minister Zafarullah Jamali.
One of the most important issues on the agenda was the so-called "pipeline of peace", supplying natural gas from Iran to India via Pakistan. There had been hopes that President Khatami's visit would finalise plans for a pipeline, but the on-going hostility between India and Pakistan put paid to these. India is concerned about the security of any pipeline running through Pakistan. Although the Pakistani government has offered repeated assurances that it would not interfere with any pipeline, the Indian government is not satisfied. It wants Iran to compensate it in the event of Pakistan closing the gas supply, a burden Tehran is not prepared to shoulder. Until these issues can be resolved, the pipeline will not materialise. At the very least, Khatami's visit clarified that there are no serious problems between Iran and Pakistan about a trans-Pakistan pipeline.
The main issue of dispute between India and Pakistan is Kashmir. Pakistan has long sought international backing for its claim to Indian-held Kashmir --or at least recognition of the fact that Kashmir is an international dispute and not, as New Delhi claims, an internal Indian problem. The Pakistan government will therefore have been heartened to hear President Khatami say that the "unprecedented brutalities" against the people of Indian Kashmir were "intolerable" and that there should be dialogue between India and Pakistan to resolve the Kashmir issue.
Pakistan also secured an endorsement of sorts for its nuclear weapons programme. When questioned about this, President Khatami countered by asking why the international community did not press Israel about its much bigger nuclear arsenal. He also clarified that Iran would be pursuing a peaceful nuclear programme for energy generation.
The joint communiqué issued at the end of President Khatami's visit showed agreement on regional issues, notably the situation in Iraq. In it, Iran and Pakistan urged Iraq to comply with UN resolutions on disarmament, but opposed any unilateral or pre-emptive military operation against the country. On Afghanistan, they reiterated their support for the Bonn process and the government of Hamid Karzai, and reaffirmed their respect for the independence, unity and territorial integrity of Afghanistan.
All in all, President Khatami's three- day tour of Pakistan showed and built on the clear improvement in relations between the two countries, especially after the events of 11 September 2001. In the same week, Pakistan saw another improvement in regional relations. Prime Minister Jamali travelled to Ashkabad in Turkmenistan, where he signed an agreement with his Turkmen counterpart Sapurmurat Niyazov and Hamid Karzai for a gas pipeline from Turkmenistan, through Afghanistan and Pakistan to the sea. The agreement had been under negotiation for 20 years, but was finally concluded after the installation of the Karzai administration in Afghanistan and its associated promise of stability in the war-ravaged country.
The main message that came out of Khatami's visit was the need for regional peace and stability, namely in Afghanistan, Kashmir and Iraq. All countries in the region stand to gain from peace and they are all aware of the terrible costs of instability and conflict.
