From Energy to Education – Pakistan has a few Number 1 Priorities

U.S. Envoy Holbrooke issued a public statement this week acknowledging Pakistan’s “deep rooted” energy problem. He explained that the United States “wanted to send the message that it was concerned about people’s genuine problems”. And the energy problem is in fact among the major problems faced by everyday Pakistanis. In the sweltering summertime, rural areas are faced with prolonged hours of outages, also known as “load shedding” with main cities including the Federal capital suffering 6 to 8 hours daily. This is not only physically unbearable for everyday citizens, but has a profound stalling effect on businesses as it further cripples the already anguished economy. Holbrooke is right then, a genuine attempt to begin resolving the energy crisis would be much welcomed and could in fact help to win the “hearts and minds” of Pakistanis.

This is among the first diplomatic statements issued regarding a funding to help upgrade Pakistan’s power sector and a timeline, or specific details on how such assistance would actually come about were not yet offered. But Pakistani finance minister Shaukat Tarin described in detail how the government could “rent electricity-generating plants over the next three to five years to fill the gap until large-scale energy projects come online and Washington could help by providing financial guarantees to encourage private investment in the sector”. Given the billions of dollars in defense spending Washington has provided Islamabad since 2001, I think Finance Minister Tarin is asking for very, very little here. It would be wise long term strategy for Holbrooke to seriously consider delving into this kind of cooperation as it can yield true long term security for the masses of citizens and ultimately, the state.

In addition, Holbrooke announced he would discuss a range of other issues that affect everyday lives of Pakistanis during his visit to Karachi on Wednesday. This positivity is in unison with most diplomatic statements from the United States pertinent to Pakistan these days. He further expressed confidence in the current democratic regime completing its term and cited a “visible improvement in the political atmosphere” when compared to his past visit.

Amplified cooperation between Washington and Islamabad in combating terrorists is painting a rosy picture of relations. News of possible cooperation on funding energy projects is hopeful and on the Pakistani side, Prime Minister Gilani “sought to assuage concerns among western countries about governance and mismanagement issues in Pakistan saying that accountability had been institutionalized”. Many countries are hesitant to allocate funding in fear of a lack of transparency and corruption. But Pakistan has finally addressed this through the first ever independent oversight body: a parliamentary watchdog – Public Accounts Committee of the National Assembly who is appointed from the opposition party. This truly is an unprecedented, viable move toward enhancing democratic processes. So it should assuage international fears to invest in helping Pakistan at this time. An interesting side note here is that this institutionalized, unprecedented oversight comes as a result of the judiciary and media being independent, which is a policy enacted by former General Musharraff as head of state during his tenure.

Finally, the drone attacks continue to be a point of discussion between the U.S. and Pakistan with Gilani reiterating that Washington directly provide Islamabad with the technology so not as to further instigate Anti-Americanism in the region through the widespread collateral/civilian damage that the unmanned predator aircraft’s inflict.

So it will be interesting to see statements from Washington in the coming weeks on Pakistan. Funding to help resolve the increasingly distressing energy crisis could be an opportunity for us to offer meaningful assistance to Pakistan, something everyday Pakistani’s often feel has been missing for the U.S. Pakistan relationship. Military aid given since 2001 has been real, and certainly address macro security concerns, but if the Obama administration wants to shift from the previous administrations policies and engage in more meaningful solutions, I think winning the hearts and minds through funding projects that directly affect Pakistani’s in tandem with the macro assistance is in our long term interest of securing the region. Focusing squarely on assistance to state level institutions for which trickle down can be painfully slow does not address the civilian concerns in Pakistan. Ultimately, winning Pakistani hearts and minds allowing them to at least be receptive to our policies through can be guaranteed through tangible assistance like energy funding.