By Nusrat Mirza
Pakistan’s Russian relations were growing since 2010 with the help of China. Russian leaders believed that Pakistan would never leave the west camp as the elites of Pakistan’s dependency on the west are too deep. But it was also true that the 2010 flood was considered an attack on Pakistan by some quarters of Pakistan after the earthquake of 2005, and resulted in a rift between the west and Pakistan. As a consequence, it was decided to maintain good relations with major Powers of the region and the world like, China and Russia to decrease dependency on the west particularly the United States of America step by step. The Raymond Davis incident in Lahore in 2011, the Abbottabad incident in May and the Salala incident in which 26 Pakistani soldiers were martyred were perceived as direct attacks by the US on Pakistan in many influential circles. Though it was revenged by Afghanis, there was a deep breach of trust between Pakistan and America. The relationship with the USA went from cold to colder as the US chose India as its strategic partner and Pakistan was kept aside. Pakistan tried to foster new strategic alliances as the USA declined to provide arms in an attempt to squeeze Pakistan as much as possible. Pakistan tried to join the Shanghai cooperation organization SCO. Russia has good relations with India and persuaded India to join SCO. Thus both countries joined together in SCO. Pakistan has very good relations with China which resulted in a Strategic Military partnership between the two countries at the same time Pakistan sought to prosper through China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC). This was a flagship project of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and faced fierce opposition from US and India. To release the pressure of America on Pakistan, special focus was placed on relations with Russia to buy cheap oil and wheat. This was not accepted by the USA. We had a super flood due to which our crops perished and the people of Pakistan went through unimaginable suffering. Conspiracy theory believers considered it the act of HAARP (High Frequency active aural Research Project or Program). HAARP is considered the USA’s ultimate weapon of weather modification. Imran Khan then prime minister of Pakistan was de-seated by way of a regime change operation and Pakistan plunged into a severe political crisis. The timings of the Russian attack on Ukraine played an important role in the current misery faced by Pakistan and it was quite unfair on part of Russia. Russians should have helped Imran Khan in his struggle to support Pakistan to come out from west pressure. Instead, Russia in a way helped the USA. Though, it was beneficial as Pakistani people had strong hate feelings against the USA. But it did not help Russia too much as Imran Khan was resisting, while the existing may not resist so much as Imran Khan would have done. Russia may be worried that Pakistan may help Ukraine in many ways. By providing nuclear weapons which is impossible; giving West an air route to help Ukraine which is also difficult but now we understand why the USA was looking for the bases in Pakistan. It would have been almost impossible had Imran Khan been in power. Putin must blame himself for losing a friendly prime minister. Though, Pakistan is still trying to keep good relations with Russia by buying oil and wheat together with diplomatic support by abstaining from a UN resolution condemning Russia on Ukraine. Russia should be thankful for it and may extend cooperation with Pakistan. In return, Pakistan may not support US action against Russia such as:
- International blockade of Russia as it will escalate the war
- Russia may not create humanitarian and food crises as the West may try to jeopardize the grain deals of Ukraine.
- Russia may encourage the resolution of the Ukraine Conflict by diplomatic means as Russia has already what it was looking for.
- Russia may try to develop a number of friends to nullify Western propaganda blaming the Russian military for inhuman behavior toward civilians. The best way will be to invite journalists and intellectuals from so-called third-world-friendly countries.
- Russia may think in broader and longer terms as American think tanks are pondering over the world’s primacy.