India once wanted to learn from Pakistan’s economic strategy

May 9th, 2008 Sana · No Comments

* War on terror in Pakistan’s interest: Fatemi

By Khalid Hasan

WASHINGTON: Narasimah Rao, when he was prime minister of India, told his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif that he would like to send a delegation to Pakistan led by Dr Manmohan Singh to study the country’s ongoing privatisation programme.

The visit did not materialise because of the removal of the Sharif government. Sharif’s then adviser on foreign affairs, retired ambassador Tariq Fatemi, disclosed this, while he was speaking on the political situation in Pakistan at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

Explaining the judges issue, Fatemi said there was no difference of opinion between the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and the Pakistan Muslim League-N leadership, except that while the latter wanted immediate reinstatement, the PPP wanted to achieve the same end but in a more gradual manner and without running into what it considered avoidable confrontation. He said the departure of Fakharuddin Ebrahim from the committee set up to resolve the judges’ issue, was unfortunate. The much-respected former judge had all along been of the opinion that since the removal of the judges by the President was ab initio illegal and unconstitutional, a simple executive order could restore them to office. There was no need for a constitutional amendment as some lawyers and politicians had argued.

Interest:

On relations with the United States, Fatemi was of the opinion that there will be no major changes. However, there was need for satisfying the people of Pakistan that the war on terror was not America’s war that Pakistan was fighting but something in Pakistan’s own interest. However, the kind of unilateral military operations that had been conducted by the US on Pakistani soil will have to cease as they impinged on the country’s sovereignty. The former diplomat was critical of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, which did not tire of praising the great economic turnaround brought about by former prime minister Shaukat Aziz, but was now unable to justify that praise given the dire economic straits in which the Aziz government had left Pakistan.