An eloquent Zardari

Rarely does a Pakistani leader speak with such candour and eloquence. President Zardari, undoubtedly, put up a highly impressive show as he addressed the 67th session of the UN General Assembly in New York. We have done enough, suffered enough, and it's now your turn to stand up to the curse of terrorism to which the anti-Islam film is the latest face, he told the leaders of the world community. You ask us 'to do more'; we have done enough already - I am here with the questions the people of Pakistan ask of you, his charge-sheet read.
"Although we can never condone violence, the international community must not become a silent observer and (it) should criminalise such acts that destroy the peace of the world and endanger world security by misusing freedom of speech". And in that he had challenged President Obama's take on the hate film who had in his inaugural speech said it couldn't be banned because "our Constitution protects the right to free speech". Given the pain the vicious film has caused to the Pakistanis and other Muslims the world over President Zardari had rightly then opened his speech by expressing his strongest condemnation for the acts of incitement of hate against the faith of billions of Muslims. How come President Obama has equated banning the hate film with 'silencing critics and oppressed minorities'? And, did he ever condemn and reject the international law under which denial of Holocaust is a culpable offence. Only a stiff, timely legal action against the producer and promoter of the condemned film "Innocence of Muslims" and removal of this nefarious mischief from the YouTube can help restore global calm and tranquillity.
Rightly then President Zardari's unambiguous and strong stand against the anti-Islam film at the United Nations should help cut out the opaqueness cast by the positions he took in his meeting with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton a day before. Going by the media coverage, it appears the tough handling of anti-US protestors over the sacrilegious film by the Pakistani authorities was perhaps of exclusive interest to his host government. That the US diplomatic missions in Pakistan remained unscathed - spared of the fate American embassy in Islamabad met in 1980 and the US consulate in Benghazi early this month - the Obama administration was duly pleased. Otherwise, it appears, there was not much in the briefcase of the Pakistani team to prove credentials of Pakistan being worthy of a sincere friendship. Pakistan was seen to be dragging feet on the Haqqani network, as pro-Pakistan Taliban remain indifferent to US pleas for peace talks, extradition of Dr Shakil Afridi is nowhere in sight and Kabul's accusations of Pakistan fomenting trouble in northern Pak-Afghan border get louder by the day. On top of all it, unbelievable to the American interlocutors, a Zardari government minister wanted the head of the American film-maker even if al Qaeda can be of some help. Given all this, Secretary Clinton, one of the few friends of Pakistan in the United States, couldn't be more courteous than what she was at the meeting. She greeted President as "my friend", thanked him for his government's handling of 'several days of violent anti-US protests' and had "in-depth conversion on the way forward" - whatever it means. But beyond that the talks were sterile and merely a formality. Given that the governments of both Pakistan and the United States are presently beset with severe electoral challenges the Zardari-Clinton meeting could go only as much as it did. Not that the serious issues besetting the bilateral ties hadn't come up, particularly in their one-on-one talks, but if there was any meaningful result it was not made public.
Going by the delegations' respective statements to the media it appears the concurrence on important issues like drone attacks and action against the film-maker remained in short supply. For instance, the Pakistani side says President Zardari did express "deep dismay of the people of Pakistan at the blasphemous video", adding "one or two persons should not be allowed to endanger world peace in the garb of freedom of expression". But the version on this put out by US State Department officials was quite different, if not opposite. At a background briefing when an official was asked if President Zardari or any other Pakistani official asked for action against the people who produced the hate film the reply was "there was not any specific action requested". As for the killer drone strikes, there too, perceptional divergence prevailed with the US side reportedly said, "As you know, we don't talk about such a thing". The day the Zardari-Clinton meeting was held in New York the drones did not offer any respite to the tribal people. That the drone issue was not discussed it's certainly quite mystifying. Could there be a higher-level than this encounter for the Pakistani political leadership to take up with US government the critical issues like blasphemous film and drone strikes, we would like to know.