By Imran Gardezi, minister for press at the Pakistan High Commission. Response to 'A failing friendship' (THE GUARDIAN, 17/05/06):
Peter Preston's comments on Pakistan were harsh, and based on an erroneous report (A failing friendship). He labels the country a "basket case" on the basis of a study, released by the US journal Foreign Policy, which used an incomprehensible yardstick to compile its failed states index.
Yet even this report admits that the massive earthquake last October was the largest factor "contributing most to Pakistan's tumble in scores". In the wake of the devastation, the people and the government of Pakistan mounted a hugely difficult rescue and relief operation which received overwhelming support from the international community. Here is something for which full marks should have been awarded.
The economic turnaround in Pakistan in the past six years belies Preston's assertion "That's the trouble with failed states. They keep on failing." Pakistan's economic growth (8.4%) was the second best to China last year and is expected to be 7% this year. With all-time high foreign exchange reserves close to $13bn and a vibrant Karachi stock exchange, the country is in upbeat form. Pakistan is the only developing country which has successfully reached its IMF target.
Preston also quotes another US thinktank's findings that Washington "likely feels Musharraf is no longer able to keep domestic affairs in order". Today, all democratic institutions in the country are fully functional. Civil liberties have been upheld and strengthened, and women's empowerment in all tiers of electoral bodies is an affirmation of our commitment to collective progress. The press in Pakistan enjoys unfettered freedom.
As for calling Pakistan "axiomatically Islamic, chronically violent, a terrorist training ground", and "who helped invent the Taliban", let us not forget that Pakistan had to pay a heavy price for becoming a frontline state - first when it became an ally in war against the Soviet Union for almost a decade, and then after 9/11 in the war against terror.
During the Afghan war of the 1980s, about 3 million Afghan refugees poured into Pakistan and most of them are still there. After 9/11, President Musharraf decided to fight extremism and terrorism. He overcame resistance from extremists to modernise the religious seminaries under the Madrassa Reforms Programme at a cost of 185.6bn rupees (£2.2bn). Measures have been introduced to stop their use as centres for inflammatory teaching, and the government has also established model madrassas to provide modern and useful education.
As a key ally in the war on terror, Pakistan has suffered more casualties than all the other allies combined. It has committed more than 80,000 troops on its borders along Afghanistan. The credit goes to President Musharraf for taking difficult decisions in difficult times.
The answer to Preston's question, "who resents the way America cuddles closer to New Delhi?" is that Pakistan has only urged a consistent approach for Pakistan and India, instead of a unilateral discriminatory nuclear deal between Washington and New Delhi which would damage the region's stability and could trigger an arms race.