The Hindu : Front Page : Pakistan suspended

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Saturday, Nov 24, 2007
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Pakistan suspended

Harish Khare

Kampala (Uganda): India on Friday joined other Commonwealth countries in endorsing the decision to suspend Pakistan from the association, “pending the restoration of democracy and the rule of law” in that country.

The decision was taken on Thursday night by the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) consisting of the Foreign Ministers, among others, of Lesotho, Sri Lanka, England, Canada and Tanzania. “Suspension” essentially means Pakistan’s exclusion from governmental Commonwealth meetings and other inter-governmental activities.

The CMAG decision was endorsed by the Heads of Delegations meeting in the first executive session, soon after Queen Elizabeth II addressed the formal Commonwealth Heads of Government Summit, 2007. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh heads the Indian delegation.

India is not a member of the CMAG and officially it was content, in a one-line statement on Friday morning, with having “noticed” the decision. There is a sense of relief that India was not called upon, nor was it in a position, to take a more precise position.

‘Treat it like Fiji’

While Pakistan was not without its friends in the CMAG, the smaller African nations are believed to have forced the suspension decision, on the plea that the same punishment be meted out to Pakistan as was done in the case of Fiji for a similar departure from the “Commonwealth principles.”

The CMAG recalled that on November 12, 2007 it was demanded that “the Government of Pakistan fulfil its obligations in accordance with Commonwealth principles.” Pakistan, accordingly, was expected to immediately repeal emergency provisions and restore fully the Constitution and the judiciary.

Mostly because the Indian delegation’s energy and attention are focussed on working for the election of Kamlesh Sharma as the next secretary-general of the Commonwealth, there was no enthusiasm to rub it in on the Musharraf regime.

This is in sharp contrast to New Delhi’s anxiety in 1999 to throw the book at Pakistan after General Pervez Musharraf’s coup.

The view at that time was that Gen. Musharraf consolidating himself — a la Field Marshal Ayub Khan and later Gen. Zia-ul-Haq — in power was not in India’s long-term interest. Though within a short period New Delhi found it expedient to try to have a working relationship with Gen. Musharraf.However, in Kampala, New Delhi seems to have come back to the original stipulation that the Commonwealth should not become a super-moralist watchdog body.

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