K N Pandita
Being the only Islamic country in possession of a nucler device, the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was supposed to react rather vigorously to what the pro-Palestinians call Israel’s adventure in Gaza. The expectation was high also because Pakistan is not only the founding father of OIC but also its principal member, commanding respect of the fifty-three member organization of world Muslim countries.
But contrary to the expectations of a majority of OIC members, who seek outright effacement of the Jewish state from the map of Arab lands in the Middle East, Pakistan has generally adopted a passive stance in respect of its Israel related policy, confining generally to a subdued demand for two-state option as a viable solution to the Palestinian conundrum.
The nuclear armed country that has been threatening India day in and day out with its kilo or half-a-kilo weighing unclear device, is tongue-tied when Israel declares it won’t stop short of destroying Gaza lock, stock and barrel. People ask where is Pakistan’s much trumpeted “Islamic bomb” while Islam is faced with a grave challenge?
But Iran as an active member of the OIC and vociferously anti-Israel had understood long back that Pakistan’s claim of “Islamic Bomb” was only a hoax without substance or to be too frank as Iranians think, is not in actual control of the device. That is the reason why Iran has been frantically pursuing to attain nuclear capability which Israel is determined to stonewall as long as it can.
Curiously, while Israel has been disabling Iranian nuclear capability and earlier did destroy Iraq’s nuclear pursuit, it never threatened Pakistan with any punitive action when Islamabad was very close to producing the bomb. Even the US, too, had turned its eye away from Pakistan’s nuclear programme.
This clearly shows that the Pakistan’s nuclear trajectory is India-oriented with green signal both from Washington and Tel Aviv.
It is no surprise to lend credence to strategic interaction like this. India had to conduct the Pokhran test with highest imaginable secrecy and confidentiality. That pre-requisite was not in place for Pakistan’s maiden test of nuclear device.
Pak-Israel relations
They have close understanding between them, little known to the world outside and less to the OIC members. The Middle East Monitor of August 3, 2023 carried a piece under the title ‘Pak Intelligence using Israel Spyware It asserts that Pakistani intelligence and police agencies are using Israeli spyware. Haaewtz has reported. “Pakistan’s Federal Investigation Agency and various police units in the country have been using products produced by the Israeli cyber technology firm Cellebrite since at least 2012,” the Israeli paper revealed today.
The bizarre part of the story is that Pakistan has no diplomatic ties with Israel.. The paper reported the purchase of the software was made through Singapore.
Cellebrite software allows law enforcement agencies to engage in digital forensic work by hacking into password-protected cellphones and copying all the information stored on them.
The Middle East Monitor raises the question whether spyware should be sold to oppressive regimes in countries wher even human rights organizations are stifled.
In the year-long Iran-Iraq war, Israel had secretly supplied aromas and ammunition to Tehran via Islamabad..
Not only Pak
But to revert to Pak-Israel relations, it is to be said that Pakistan is not the only Muslim country for which Israel is not a pariah; there are others as well among the bogus OIC that have kept overt or covert channels open for interaction with Israel. The prime example of such normalization with the Jewish State is the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. The kingdom was reluctant belligerent in the 1967 six day war, ” Ahead of the Yom Kippur War in 1973, the Jordanian king was helicoptered to a Mossad building outside Tel Aviv, along with his prime minister Ziad Rifai, where he informed Israeli officials including Prime Minister Golda Meir of Syria’s planned offensive and Egyptian support”, reported the Middle East Monitor in its issue of 15 April. Speaking on condition of anonymity, one independent Jordanian observer revealed to MEM that “Iran is the enemy not Israel.”
Not one to mince the words, former Pakistani senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan went viral on X for branding King Abdullah of Jordan a “traitor, son of a traitor, son of a traitor” said the Monitor. It eloquently speaks of Pakistan’s deceptive tactics of handling OIC
Hamas war derails normalization
Before the 7th October attack on Israel that caused death of about 1200 Israelis and captivity of hundreds of men, women and children at the hands of armed Hamas barbarians, silent activity was going on at various levels and individuals for normalization of Arab-Israel relations. UAE and Bahrain had already initiated exchange of officials with Israel in 2020, and the Saudi Kingdom under the leadership of Crown Prince Salman was also conducting parleys through emissaries to that purpose. In South Asian country of Pakistan, a debate had intermittently flared up in national mainstream television channels and social media platforms whether Islamabad should reconsider its stand on Israel. The two countries had been holding secret meetings on security related issues ever since their foreign ministers met publicly in 2005. The discourse gained momentum in March this year when one Fishel Benkhalid, a Pakistani Jew in the city of Karachi, revealed via his social media platform that he had successfully exported his first koshur food shipment to Jerusalem and Haifa. Pakistani officials said that export had taken place through a third country and was Benkhalid’s initiative and did not signal any intention of the state of trade relations with Israel. The Hamas war derailed the efforts of normalization.
Malaya Lodhi, a former Pakistani ambassador to the UN said that time was not ripe for conducting talks on the subject. She said, “Pakistan has been a steadfast supporter of the Palestinian cause. It would want to see de-escalation of the conflict, ”
Conclusion
Pakistan has strong ties with the Saudi kingdom. When the flames of Middle East fighting die down, Saudi Arabia will revive its mission of normalizing relations with Israel, which, in turn, will encourage to throw off the mask and come out in open for establishing normal relations with Israel. In that situation Pakistan will have a handle to face the extreme rightist segments at home, Moreover, Pakistan needs to mend fence with the US and the EU to come out of isolation caused by its long fraternizing policy with the religious extremists Normalization of relations with Israel and open trade and commerce as well as in various technologies would give some credibility to Pakistan as a legitimate peace loving country.
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