The Washington Diplomat

Ambassador of Pakistan Maleeha Lodhi
New Leadership, More Problems
by John Shaw

When Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan's ambassador to the United States, moved back to Washington, D.C., late last year, she was returning to a familiar city--but to a new world.

When she served as Pakistan's ambassador to the United States from 1994 to 1997 she was a first-time diplomat representing a popular--and popularly elected--government.

When Lodhi returned to Washington in December 1999, she was a more experienced envoy representing a military government that came to power under circumstances that she spends much of her time explaining. And with Pakistan's always testy relations with India worsening, she now confronts fears of a nuclear arms race in South Asia.

"The personal challenge for me the first time I was here was far greater because I had never been an ambassador before and I could not be sure how I would fare," she says. "This time on a personal level it's been much easier because there's no learning curve. But on a professional level it has been much more difficult given the present state of Pakistan's relations with the United States."

Those relations, she acknowledges, are sometimes strained.
The U.S. government continues to express displeasure about the events of last October when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's government was overthrown by a military coup. Gen. Pervez Musharraf, the leader of the effort to depose Sharif, now heads the military government as Pakistan's chief executive.

In addition to the controversy surrounding the new government, U.S. officials are critical of Pakistan's anti-terrorism efforts and for testing a nuclear bomb in 1998 after India did so first.

Americans officials frequently express concern about mounting tensions in South Asia. Pakistan and its arch foe, India, continue to exchange hostile words and show little inclination of moving toward an agreement on Kashmir, which has been the flashpoint of their mutual antipathy for more than a half century.

Also, with the Cold War over, many American officials now view India as the United States's key ally in South Asia, implicitly downplaying Pakistan's future role and its past loyalty to the United States.

Lodhi acknowledges that she has no shortage of challenges facing her in Washington.
"There are transitions all around. We are negotiating through one of the most critical passages of our bilateral relationship with the United States," she says.

A direct, engaging woman, Lodhi believes in confronting matters head on. She speaks frankly about Pakistan's struggle to build democratic institutions and its difficult relationship with India.

Lodhi's candor was apparent when she presented her credentials to President Bill Clinton last year. Standing in the Oval Office, Lodhi told Clinton that Pakistan remains determined to build a modern, Islamic nation with democratic institutions and a market-based economy.

She said these objectives had been eroded by nearly a decade of failed governance that culminated with the Sharif government. Under that government, she declared, national institutions were being destroyed, liberties were violated, the economy was in shambles and democracy was being transformed into a kleptocracy.

The ambassador said the government headed up by Musharraf would streamline and strengthen the political system, revive the economy, restore investor confidence, eliminate corruption, and ensure law and order.
Clinton listened politely, but responded firmly.

The United States, he said, was "very disappointed by the setback to Pakistan's democracy" that the military takeover represented and said he hoped "Pakistan will move quickly to return to civilian rule with a democracy." He urged Pakistan to sign the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty and take other steps to reduce the costly and destabilizing arms competition in South Asia.

Seated in her second-floor office in Pakistan's embassy under a large portrait of Mohammed Ali Jinnah, Lodhi acknowledges that one of her main jobs in Washington is to explain what is going on in Pakistan.

"I talk about the present, where Pakistan is heading, about our problems and challenges and how the United States can help us in the transition," she says.

"Transitions are supremely difficult creatures to traverse. But we're confident. We'd like to develop international understanding for what we're trying to do in Pakistan. That's the most important part of my mission: to ask for understanding," she adds.

She speaks openly about her nation's troubled internal situation and of her difficult decision to accept the post in Washington. The government told her that she was needed to explain Pakistan's predicament and aspirations to the American people.

"I had to square this request to come back with my previous career in which I absolutely opposed military rule. I had to think about this very fully. At the end of the day, I was convinced of the sincerity of the government and about the fact that they intervened reluctantly," she says.

"I was convinced, and still feel that this is, in a way, my country's last chance to reform itself and become viable economically and politically. This is our last chance to be the Pakistan that was envisaged by our founding fathers. This is our last chance to get our act together and realize our potential. Pakistan is a country of great promise and potential," she adds.

Pakistan is about twice size of California with a population of 135 million. It rests on the Arabian Sea between India in the east, Iran and Afghanistan in the west and China in the north.

Pakistan and India were founded in 1947 when Great Britain agreed to end its political rule of the subcontinent and established the two nations, which immediately became fierce rivals.

It has been a difficult half-century for Pakistan. Weak and often corrupt civilian governments have alternated in power with repressive military regimes. And Pakistan and India have clashed repeatedly.

Lodhi says India has shown no interest in entering meaningful talks with Pakistan on the issues that divide the two nations.

"All of our efforts this year to simply engage India in the resumption of talks have been responded to by India by a rejectionist approach. All we've seen since the present government came to power is India trying to make life more difficult for Pakistan internationally," she says.

"It takes two to tango. We need a negotiating partner to defuse the tensions. You need to get to the negotiating table to do that. India has said no to everything we have offered," she adds.

Lodhi urges American leaders to broker a dialogue between India and Pakistan that would address problems such as the fate of Kashmir and a possible arms race between the two nations.

She also urges American officials to help construct a South Asian security architecture that has four pillars: nuclear and missile restraint by India and Pakistan, conventional arms control in the region, peaceful resolution of outstanding disputes and sources of conflict, and economic and social revival of South Asia through regional cooperation and global integration.

Lodhi acknowledges that the nuclear issue now looms large in the subcontinent and says Pakistan is eager to negotiate with India on limiting each nation's weapons.
"South Asia remains a very volatile region that is seething with tensions. Things should not be allowed to spin out of control which is always a possibility. There are huge stakes for the international community in South Asia," she says.

Lodhi brings to her work nearly two decades of experience in journalism, academics and diplomacy. She earned a bachelor's degree in economics from the London School of Economics in 1976 and was awarded doctorate in politics there in 1980. She has been a lecturer in public administration at the University of Islamabad as well as the London School of Economics.

In 1987, she took a job at The Muslim, an English daily newspaper. Five years later she was part of the team that launched a new daily newspaper called The News. She managed the newsroom, helped set editorial policy and wrote occasional essays for the paper which has become Pakistan's leading English daily. She recalls her early days at The News fondly.

"That was probably the most rewarding time for me personally. A baby was born, so to speak, and we were part of the conception. It was a tremendously gratifying experience. The feedback we got from readers was a terribly enriching experience. I think we were able to make a contribution to the development of an independent press in Pakistan," she adds.

In 1994 Lodhi was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 people who would shape the 21st century. She was the only person chosen from Pakistan.

That same year Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto asked her to serve as Pakistan's ambassador in Washington. Initially reluctant to take the job, she eventually agreed.
"I had to start from scratch. But in some ways this was an advantage because you don't bring any preconceived notions or frameworks. You are open to all perspectives, both within and outside the embassy," she says.

Lodhi says she enjoyed her work in Washington, but assumed it would be her first and last foray into diplomacy. "I never imagined I would be back here. I thought it was a one shot deal," she says.

She returned to Pakistan and her journalism career. As an editor for The News, Lodhi wrote about the changing international scene, South Asia's challenges, Pakistan's difficult relations with India and her own nation's political and economic woes.

Writing at the end of 1998, she all but despaired about the state of her nation.

"Pakistan stands at the edge of the new millennium in economic, social and institutional disarray, a state bereft of statesmen, with a leadership locked in such denial that it believes muddling through is still a viable option to heal a fractured nation and an increasingly disconnected country," she wrote.

Lodhi blasted a visionless leadership "unburdened by competence or commitment" and lamented a "predatory and self-obsessive governing elite." She scorched the government for failing to act soberly about its nuclear status. She said that it chose instead to "engage in farcical bombast and self-congratulatory xenophobia in a stunning flight from reality."
She was a visiting fellow at International Institute of Strategic Studies in London in late 1999 when she was asked to come back to Washington to represent Pakistan during its time of troubles.

Lodhi says she is trying to take advantage of her earlier experience to navigate Washington's tricky and complex diplomatic waters.
"The challenge for anybody operating here is to understand the multiple power centers and to work through these centers in such a way that your voice is at least heard during the process," she says.

Lodhi adds that as she works with Congress she has learned to present a simple message to busy lawmakers and their staffs.

"On the Hill you need to master the art of putting across your country's case in a manner that is simple and quite brief because nobody ha s very much time. You walk in and say your piece and make sure you say it in a way that people remember," she says. "I learned very quickly that this is a sound bite city par excellence. It's diplomacy by sound bite. I had to learn very quickly to reduce very complex positions to simple statements."

During meetings with lawmakers and administration officials, Lodhi frequently responds to questions about Pakistan's nuclear status, tensions with India and its record on terrorism. On the last matter, Pakistan has come under fire from both the White House and Congress for not being sufficiently vigilant about combating terrorist groups operating in the country. Lodhi argues that this charge is unfair.

"Cooperation in global counter-terrorism efforts is part of Pakistan's international obligations and we have done it to the best of our ability," she says. "We should be judged by that record. But some of the problems in the region are part of our joint legacy with the United States, our cooperation during the war in Afghanistan. These problems ought to be jointly addressed. It does not help to point accusing fingers at Pakistan. It is not the way to elicit cooperation from a country," she adds.

Lodhi says the United States should not become so focused on forging a special relationship with India that it forgets Pakistan's record as a steadfast ally or ignores the realities of the new global political scene in which broad alliances will be crucial.

"Surely cooperation and cooperative patterns should be the defining pattern of the 21st century. This is the time when we need to work out cooperative schemes throughout the world. We don't need the constructs of a bipolar world. This is a world of multipolarity in which cooperation should be the watchword," she says.

Lodhi urges American business and political leaders to take steps to support economic growth in Pakistan and the region.

Pakistan's economy averaged an impressive growth rate of 6 percent per year during the 1980s and early 1990s, but growth has slowed since then and is barely keeping pace with Pakistan's annual population growth of nearly 3 percent. Political instability has scared off foreign investment. More than half of the federal budget goes for debt servicing. Military spending consumes much of the rest of the budget.

Lodhi encourages American firms to invest in Pakistan, especially in the oil, gas and information technology sectors. So far, American trade and investment in Pakistan remain quite limited, with only about $3 billion in annual bilateral trade and $1 billion in total American investment.

Despite all of its troubles, Lodhi is convinced that Pakistan will emerge from its turmoil in good shape.

"We're quite confident that we will come out of this quite strongly. We are determined to play an important role in the region and in the Islamic world," she says.

"What drives me now is a chance to contribute to my country, especially now as we're going through such a challenging, testing time," she adds.

John Shaw is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.