Masood Khan was the ‘president’ of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir

Masood Khan was the ‘president’ of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir

Masood Khan was the ‘president’ of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir

Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu would remember him clearly. Masood Khan, a diplomat-turned-‘president’ of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir, was seated next to him at the Prime Minister Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony in 2018. Khan has now been brought out of retirement to take on a new role—the plum post as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US.

Khan goes to Washington at a crucial time when Pakistan is hoping to deepen its ties with America.

Prime Minister Khan has been vocal about wanting a "civilised, even-handed" relationship with America. In an interview with The New York Times in June, the PM was quoted as saying, “Now, after the US leaves Afghanistan, basically Pakistan would want a civilised relationship, which you have between nations, and we would like to improve our trading relationship with the US.”

It is no secret that in the Taliban-dominated Afghanistan, Pakistan emerged as a country that has great influence. Even as Delhi holds a dialogue with regional partners on Afghanistan on Wednesday—in which Pakistan and China would not be present—Pakistan will hold a meeting with Russia, China and the US, in which US Special Envoy Thomas West will be present.

More than just having influence over the Taliban—a point Pakistan raised several times— the key to connectivity lies with Islamabad. Transit agreements with regional countries have all been signed with Islamabad.

Khan is a career diplomat with a lot of experience. He has been picked for trusted roles, from serving as an ambassador to China from 2008 to 2012, being  Pakistan’s permanent representative to the UN in 2012, to being posted in Geneva. He will have to work hard to be able to find a way to change the nature of the relationship with Washington. His stint as ‘president’ of PoK will certainly be an added bonus, among the domestic audience.

Khan has been a vocal supporter of Pakistan’s position on Kashmir. His appointment comes at a time when Pakistan has made it a mission to raise the issue of Kashmir  at every international forum. Islamabad upped the ante on Kashmir after the revocation of Article 370. A special cell was formed in 2019 at the foreign affairs ministry as well as Pakistan embassies across the world, to devise future strategy on Kashmir. India has expressed concern over these cells, stating that they will incite violence and spread “falsehoods’’ on Kashmir.

The question is whether his Kashmiri stripes will prove to be an asset for Pakistan in the power corridors of Washington?

PM Khan wants to reset relations with America, going beyond just Afghanistan. Masood Khan will undoubtedly be entrusted with the task of  shifting from geo-strategy to geo-economics. Under President Joe Biden, the relationship between Pakistan and the US had less than a perfect beginning. There had been much heartburn over the Presidential phone call between Biden and Imran Khan, which did not happen.

The new administration takeover comes at a time when the supreme court in Pakistan upheld the acquittal of Omar Saeed Sheikh, who had been convicted for masterminding the kidnapping of journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002. So, the first conversation between Secretary of State Antony Blinken and his Pakistani counterpart would be less than perfect.

While there has been collaboration over Afghanistan, America has not tried to broaden the relationship.  In October, when deputy secretary of state, Wendy Sherman, visited India and Pakistan, she made it clear that her Islamabad visit was for “a very specific and narrow purpose” –Afghanistan and Taliban. “We don’t see ourselves building a broad relationship with Pakistan, and we have no interest in returning to the days of hyphenated India-Pakistan,” she said. “That is not where we are. That is not where we are going to be.’’

So while Khan might use his position to bring up Kashmir, will Washington lend a sympathetic ear?