But Tarar was not able to arrange any meeting of Prime Minister's Special Assistant on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi with Trump's team during his 10-day long visit to the US, they said. While Indian National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, who was in the US at the same time as Fatemi, met US National Security Advisor-designate General Michael Flynn (Retd) in Washington, and is likely to attend Trump's inauguration on January 20, 2017.
Talking about the failure to meet Trump's team, a former diplomat who requested anonymity, said US authorities as well the Trump's transition team were well aware that the slot of 'Special Assistant' was a ceremonial one, wand of no importance. The major problem with Pakistan's foreign policy was the absence of a permanent foreign minister, as all the major powers especially the US preferred to hold meetings with their counterparts of equivalent rank, he further clarified.
Foreign Office spokesperson Nafees Zakaria was not available for comments and did not respond to Business Recorder queries sent to him on his phone till the filing of this report. The question put to Zakaria on the phone was: Is Pakistan engaged at any level with Trump's team to further the country's point of view on issues of mutual interest.
Although, at the conclusion of his visit Fatemi himself admitted before the media in Washington that he did not meet Trump's transition team because the members of the team were busy in transition process, Foreign Office had insisted that the trip was a "success".
"He [Fatemi] had constructive discussions with a number of important political figures and met various segments of society, including think tanks, media, etc," Zakaria told his weekly media briefing on December 22, 2016. The man behind Prime Minister Modi's lobby in the US is an Indian-American industrialist and founder of the Republican Hindu Coalition, Shalabh Kumar, who is also a member of the Trump transition team and is reportedly closely associated with the BJP and the RSS.
Kumar, whose twitter bio says "Trump advisor, bridge between Trump and Modi", was quoted by Indian media on Tuesday [January 3] as having said that US President-elect Donald Trump made it clear to the US Republican Hindu group that "he [Trump] is not going to tolerate a dual role from India's neighbours," an obvious reference to Pakistan and China.
Last month, China expressed serious concerns over Trump's remarks in a TV interview in which he had questioned the US 'One China' policy, under which Washington does not recognise Taiwan as a sovereign state. The US President-elect also invited criticism from China when he held telephonic conversation with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen, and subsequently attacked China on Twitter, an initiative the Obama administration described as a "potentially damaging diplomatic row" with Beijing.
Talking to Business Recorder, Imtiaz Gul, a senior analyst and Executive Director at Centre for Research and Security Studies, pointed out that already there were clear alignments in place - China and countries like Pakistan close to China versus the US and those who toe the Trump line. Trump's preference for India was due to economic as well as regional political interests, he added. As far as Fatemi's visit is concerned, he stated that Fatemi was merely a special assistant to the Prime Minister. "One of the reasons Fatemi did not meet with any member of the Trump transition team could be his status, which matters a lot," he added.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2017