Aside from the twin problems of a direction less foreign policy and a complete failure at building up a narrative to highlight Indian-sponsored terrorism in Baluchistan there is another major gap in countering this skewed international relations chaos that Pakistan finds itself in. Thirdly, we must realize that perception building and then changing it is a long game. Indian writers, analysts, professors proliferate the intellectual markets of America. Take the top circle of US academia and you will find Indians dominating the faculty and research centers of these seats of brain power. Similarly, in the think tank forums of the US, Pakistanis are a rarity while Indians a norm. These think tanks are the opinion leaders in foreign policy and narrative building. Unfortunately, there is hardly any effort at connecting, lobbying or providing an alternative narrative by the Pakistani government or the other political parties in Pakistan. Thus with only one side feeding the story that story is bound to become the running narrative. This being the status what are the alternatives? Let us look at some corrective measures.
1) No Funds No Support. Pakistan is geo-strategically very important to American intervention in Afghanistan. We should take some immediate steps to change our normal lose-win stance to "if it is not win-win no deal" stance in our negotiation options. The solution lies in not just counter tweeting and saying we are hurt and that Trump is lying but to develop an immediate and a medium strategy to combat the expected repercussions. The first ones are economic. Nikki Haley has already said $255 million funds will be suspended. Firstly, we need to determine are these funds aid or under CSF (Coalition Support Funds) arrangement? If they are CSF then we should build a counter narrative that this is not aid but money owed to Pakistan for services rendered for logistics and supplies to US operations, and not paying them is a default by America and not a favour as it has been portrayed for years. The immediate steps that need to be taken are a suspension of bases/routes/supplies that facilitate America and Nato from Pakistan. The history of Salala incident in 2011 is a case in point when shutting Shamsie base and stopping Nato supplies did make the Americans bend and apologize. No Funds No Support.
2) Build Alternative Support-Secondly, the political side. Countries who have supported our stance are China and Turkey. We need to immediately engage with them in a bilateral dialogue by firstly talks telephonically of high level signaling to declare independence from American aid. This should be followed by further sending of a high-powered delegation to develop joint communiques on how to cooperate politically and economically to combat this American offensive. $255 million can be easily compensated if some projects in CPEC are expedited or to seek help from Chinese Exim Bank.
3) Activate the Regional Blocs-Iran is another party that has been bashed by a Twitter-happy Trump. He has threatened Iran by saying "The people of Iran are finally acting against the brutal and corrupt Iranian regime. All of the money that President Obama so foolishly gave them went into terrorism and into their "pockets." The people have little food, big inflation and no human rights. The US is watching!"
Iranian government is on the lookout for some support against the US. Time for Pakistan to restore relations with Iran by reviving the old trading bloc RCD that was originally Regional Cooperation Development between Pakistan, Turkey and Iran and later became ECO, ie, Economic Cooperation Organization. Established as Regional Cooperation for Development (RCD) in 1964 by Iran, Pakistan and Turkey, the Organization was renamed as "ECO" in 1985. In 1992 and in the aftermath of collapse of the Soviet Union, Afghanistan and six former Soviet Republics, namely, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan also joined the Organization, forming one of the biggest regional blocs in Asia and beyond.
ECO like many other regional blocs is condemned for being GTs (Get Together) of Muslim political elite but it is time for Pakistan, Iran, and Turkey to start making it more impactful. In March 2017, Heads of State/Government of the Member States in their 13th Summit in Islamabad endorsed "ECO Vision 2025" where main directions of the ECO in the years to come were drawn. With all three countries Pakistan, Iran and Turkey now having a common goal of responding to US agenda, this could become a purposeful platform to build more geo political cooperation upon it.
4) Work on a Strategic Perception Management Plan- Perception is reality. That being true Pakistan needs a comprehensive strategy of international image building that requires work at all levels. The need to identify stakeholders, both facilitators and blockers, and then devising strategies using all media, social media, lobbying and narrative building tools to implement them is imperative. The fact that we have no voice in the academia or think tanks on global media platforms is perceptually and politically suicidal. In today's world wars are just not fought with Scud missiles but with guided psychological, social, digital "missiles" that penetrate minds and hearts and drive people towards or against certain actions. India has perfected it and Pakistan has neglected it. Remember, in a game of thrones it is not the one who is making the most effort but the one who is perceived to be the crown prince will eventually rule.
(The writer can be reached at andleeb.abbas1@gmail.com)