{"id":12528,"date":"2024-05-02T11:25:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-02T08:25:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/?p=12528"},"modified":"2024-05-06T11:54:03","modified_gmt":"2024-05-06T08:54:03","slug":"the-significance-of-raisis-visit-to-pakistan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/monitoring-and-translation\/reports\/the-significance-of-raisis-visit-to-pakistan\/","title":{"rendered":"The Significance of Raisi\u2019s Visit to Pakistan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The Iranian president\u2019s official trip to Pakistan on 22 April 2024 dominated the country\u2019s media landscape owing to its overwhelming focus on public diplomacy and symbolism. Not only did the Iranian dignitary meet political leaders and address intelligentsia and students but was also awarded<\/a> an honorary doctorate by the University of Karachi, one of the oldest universities in the country. Islamabad named an important boulevard Iran Avenue to reciprocate Tehran\u2019s Mohammad Ali Jenah Expressway which dates to the pre-1979 era.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Occurring against the backdrop of an alleged Israeli symbolic counterattack, the Iranian president\u2019s Pakistan sojourn deflected criticism at home to favourable defiant rhetoric lauded by the Pakistani people during his frequent interactions in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi. After laying flowers on Dr. Allama Iqbal\u2019s mausoleum, he threatened<\/a> Israel while speaking to Punjab\u2019s elite, \u201cIf the Zionist regime once again makes a mistake and attacks the sacred land of Iran, the situation will be different, and it is not clear whether anything will remain of this regime.\u201d Ignoring the third-country rule, he did not hesitate to lambast Washington. \u201cToday the greatest violators of human rights are the Americans and Westerners, and their claim of defending human rights is also empty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As much as Pakistan opposes Israeli actions in Gaza, it does not fully endorse Iran\u2019s policy and stratagem of employing armed militias. Interestingly, less than two weeks before the visit, Islamabad declared<\/a> Liwa Zainebiyoun (the Followers of Zainab Brigade) a \u201cterrorist organization.\u201d The curious timing of the decision sheds light on Islamabad\u2019s attempts to limit Tehran\u2019s expectations from the presidential visit taking place after eight years and the first of any foreign head of government or state to Pakistan since the elected government took office in March. Not the prime minister himself but a federal minister received the dignitary while President Ebrahim Raisi did not attend the ceremony for the Nishan-e-Pakistan recipients (Grand Cross of the Order of Pakistan), the country\u2019s highest civilian honour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the joint press conference with his Pakistani counterpart, President Raisi refrained from mentioning disputed Jammu and Kashmir but repeatedly referred to Gaza and Palestine. He  said<\/a> that Iran supports \u201call UNSC resolutions and is against all oppression.\u201d Ironically, the 13th<\/sup> paragraph of the joint statement<\/a> refers to the issue of Kashmir that must be resolved \u201cthrough dialogue and peaceful means based on the will of the people of that region, and in accordance with international law.\u201d Eight memorandums of understanding (MoUs) were signed and the two sides, in principle, agreed to set up a consultation system at the foreign minister level to develop a joint strategy to combat arms trafficking, smuggling and cross-border terrorism. In his meeting with the Iranian president, Pakistan\u2019s Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir termed the Pak-Iran border as \u201cof peace and friendship.\u201d  President Raisi vowed for cooperation between the two armed forces \u201cto attain peace and stability.\u201d India\u2019s presence on Iran\u2019s side of the Makran coast irks Pakistan while Tehran believes its enemies are harboring Sunni Baloch militants on the Pakistani side. Yet, the joint statement refers to Chabahar and Gwadar as sister ports where both neighbors pledged to \u201cexpand mutually beneficial and enduring linkages.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notwithstanding such contradictions, both states pledged to expand their annual trade from $2 billion to $10 billion but without declaring a timeframe. Setting up markets along the border and relying on barter trade is an unrealistic objective. While the largely parallel economies agreed to \u201cexpeditiously finalize\u201d the free trade agreement (FTA), it is worth mentioning that Islamabad and Ankara took over a decade to reach a preferential trade agreement (PTA). Tehran and Islamabad had agreed<\/a> to the initial free trade agreement (FTA) draft in 2016, sparking similar hopes which did not materialize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The so-called Peace Pipeline Project is the elephant in the room due to its outrageous terms, agreed upon by then and current President Asif Ali Zardari with the nod of the Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Pervez Kayani, coupled with the perpetuating US sanctions. Signed<\/a> in 2010 and slated for completion in December 2014 at the of cost $7.6 billion, Iran committed to pump 750 million cubic feet of gas to Pakistan daily by mid-2015. For failing to build its part of the pipeline by December 30, 2014, Zardari had accepted that Islamabad would pay a $3 million fine daily until the completion of the pipeline. Tehran hurriedly built its side of the 1,100 kilometer pipeline at the expense of approximately $1billion. However, leading banks were unwilling to finance the project due to UNSC and US sanctions while the White House repeatedly warned Islamabad against buying Iranian petrochemicals. Assessing Pakistan\u2019s worsening energy crisis amidst a rising population and the absence of an alternate pipeline from the Gulf states, Tehran extended the deadline by a decade (until March 2024) but did not waive the daily penalty clause. If Pakistan reneges on the agreement, it will have to pay nearly $18 billion in fines alone. With no substitute pipeline from any of its Gulf partners on the cards, Pakistan\u2019s baffling quagmire is to meet the energy needs of 240 million people, rising by 40 million since 2010. Iran\u2019s rash foreign and security policies heighten Pakistan\u2019s fears of relying on such a neighbor for vital, long-term energy security.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Though talk of reviving the Peace Pipeline Project has grown in recent weeks, Islamabad has yet to seek a waiver from Washington. In February, Pakistan approved the construction of the first phase (the 80 kilometer section) of the gas pipeline from the Iranian border to Gwadar. Meanwhile, the US State Department warned Pakistan about the risk of secondary curbs. Mathew Miller, the State Department spokesperson said<\/a>, \u201cWe always advise everyone that doing business with Iran runs the risk of touching upon and coming in contact with our sanctions, and would advise everyone to consider that very carefully.\u201d If a new IMF program is to be agreed upon, Islamabad would have to suspend plans to construct the pipeline. It is a matter of time before Pakistan resorts to international arbitration over the outrageous terms of the gas pipeline project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Iran won a major battle of perception despite its rash border attack four months ago. Islamabad consented to Raisi\u2019s three-day visit to its three nerve centers where President Raisi attempted to whitewash Tehran\u2019s misdeeds against Pakistan and the Arab states. The Pakistani government failed to see Iran\u2019s ruthless pursuit of its national interest against its own and it could be said that President Raisi successfully played with a sentimental Pakistani nation and in the face of humiliating Israeli counterattacks, the Iranian government via Raisi\u2019s visit found a clever distraction for the Iranian people. As Pakistan faces a worsening energy crisis, Iran could make its case to the public about the urgency to build the gas pipeline in defiance of US intimidation. Iran might be able to double bilateral trade in a decade.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Iranian president\u2019s official trip to Pakistan on 22 April 2024 dominated the country\u2019s media landscape owing to its overwhelming focus on public diplomacy and symbolism. Not only did the Iranian dignitary meet political leaders and address intelligentsia and students but was also awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Karachi, one of the oldest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":12529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[95,1758,7061],"class_list":["post-12528","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reports","tag-pakistan","tag-raisi","tag-raisi-visit-to-pakistan"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12528"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12530,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12528\/revisions\/12530"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rasanah-iiis.org\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}