A classified government memo explains that Pakistan can “no longer try to maintain a middle ground between China and the United States.”
by Massimo Introvigne
We now know that the classified documents in possession of the U.S. Department of Defense published last month through the instant messaging platform Discord are genuine, although we do not know how the Pentagon acquired each of them.
One particular document, whose authenticity has not been contested by the interested parties, is of great interest for those observing Pakistan. It is a memo dated March 2023 signed by Hina Rabbani Khar, Pakistan’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs (not to be confused with the Foreign Minister, of whom she is substantially the deputy).
In the memo, titled “Pakistan’s Difficult Choices,” the minister claims that her country “can no longer try to maintain a middle ground between China and the United States.” Khar reviews various attempts by Pakistan to appease the United States. She comments that even if these attempts are cosmetic rather than real, the mere “appearance” of humoring the U.S. is enough to upset China. Since the only “strategic partnership” by Pakistan is the one with China, any move giving the impression that her country is taking into account American pressure or suggestions should cease, Khar said.
It has been suggested that Khar’s aim was to prevent Pakistan from attending the second Summit for Democracy, organized by President Biden at the end of March. Pakistan had not attended the first one in 2021, and didn’t attend the second either.
However, beyond the specific circumstances motivating the memo, the document raises several general questions, which are of interest to readers of “Bitter Winter” as well, as we frequently cover the dire situation of religious liberty in Pakistan.
The United States have given billions of dollars to Pakistan, for noble humanitarian reasons but also in the hope of promoting human rights and democracy there. It is no mystery that the U.S. have often avoided or postponed a heavier censorship of Pakistan on its support or tolerance of terrorist groups and on freedom of religion or belief issues, from the bloody persecution of the Ahmadi minority to the kidnapping and forced conversion to Islam of Hindu and Christian girls who are then married to Muslims, and to laws that punish blasphemy with the death penalty. The U.S. did this for geopolitical reasons, hoping to keep Pakistan in its “middle ground” position between the West and China.
Khar’s memo now tells us that this strategy did not work. Pakistan has chosen its camp, and the name of this camp is China. There is thus no reason, for the United States as well as for Europe, for being shy in denying any kind of help or support to Pakistan until it improves its dismal human rights and religious liberty record, in denouncing the horrors of forced conversion and marriages, the blasphemy laws, and the violent persecution of the Ahmadis, and in issuing Magnitsky-like sanctions against those responsible for the repression.
Massimo Introvigne (born June 14, 1955 in Rome) is an Italian sociologist of religions. He is the founder and managing director of the Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR), an international network of scholars who study new religious movements. Introvigne is the author of some 70 books and more than 100 articles in the field of sociology of religion. He was the main author of the Enciclopedia delle religioni in Italia (Encyclopedia of Religions in Italy). He is a member of the editorial board for the Interdisciplinary Journal of Research on Religion and of the executive board of University of California Press’ Nova Religio. From January 5 to December 31, 2011, he has served as the “Representative on combating racism, xenophobia and discrimination, with a special focus on discrimination against Christians and members of other religions” of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). From 2012 to 2015 he served as chairperson of the Observatory of Religious Liberty, instituted by the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in order to monitor problems of religious liberty on a worldwide scale.
