Brotherly love

Brotherly love

With the recent trip of Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmedinejad and Afghanistan’s President Hamid Karzai, Pakistan’s ties with its two Western neighbours seem to be strengthening.

“The presidents of the three countries, at their summit, agreed to bolster their counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics cooperation despite bitterness during bilateral parleys between Pakistan and Afghanistan over allegations related to Taliban,” a report in this newspaper said on Saturday.

Later on Saturday, Pakistan reportedly agreed to launch an operation against banned militant organisation Jandullah on the insistence of the Iranian president.

The two countries have also agreed to carry on working on the gas pipeline, with Iran saying it will honour the commitment despite international sanctions against it.

Will the two countries be able to turn the gas pipeline project into a success?

How vital is it for Pakistan to have strong relations with Iran?

Can Pakistan sustain strong ties with Iran and Afghanistan?

Dawn.com invites its readers to share their views and opinions.

 

Comments Guide:
Dawn.com encourages its readers to share their views on our forums. We try to accommodate all users' comments but this is not always possible due to space and other constraints. Please our read our comments guidelines below for more information:

1. Please be aware that the views of our bloggers and commenters do not necessarily reflect Dawn.com's policies.

2. Though comments appear to have been published immediately after posting, they are actually forwarded to a moderation queue before publication.

3. Dawn reserves the right to remove or edit comments that are posted on this blog.

4. Language that is offensive to any race, religion, ethnicity, gender or nationality is not permitted.

5. Avoid posting comments in ALL CAPS. Commenters are also encouraged to avoid text contractions like 'u r.'

6. Do not cross-post comments across multiple blog entries.

7. Any comments posted to a blog entry should be relevant to the topic or discussion.

8. Do not spam the comment section.

166 Responses to “Brotherly love”

  1. Shivram says:

    I am an Indian. I do not know the politics between Iran, Pakistan and Afghanistan, but I do feel if India and Pakistan co operate with each other, we could become a lethal threat not just to Europe and America, but also China.

    Its a pity that though people of both countries want to have more peace, the politicians portray such a different picture. I have always been made to believe by my politicians that it’s Pakistan that wants to attack us, I am sure your leaders will be telling you that it’s India that wants to attack. In this fight, neither country has progressed over the years.

    How I wish both countries could like with more friendship and brother hood.

    • Akbar Khan says:

      I respect your opinion and fully agreed with it. if India and Pakistan unite their forces and resources together then they become so powerful that no other country can ever challenge them. An exisiting block of south Asians countries is already there. We must strengthen this SARAC block and include Iran in it. we are in right path but Indian and Pakistanti government due to narrow thinking putting lots of road blocks in its FULL POTENTIAL. Allah bless India and Pakistani friendship and Bhaic hara

    • Arun says:

      We are talking brotherly love and you are talking about becoming a lethal threat. I would choose the former. And I wouldn’t blame the politicians – in Pakistan, Afghanistan and India, they are elected. The people choose the policy – so we the people need to take some responsibility for the hostility.

    • Shahid Ashraf says:

      Shivram. I fully agree with you. Pakistan and India have lots more common than any other country. After all we’ve been a single country through out our existence! I think it’s military and some right wing politicians and religious “leaders” than the mainstream politicians who do not want cordial relations between our two countries!!!

  2. L Ahmad says:

    There is no brotherly love so don’t be fooled by what has been said. These three heads feel very insecure and are trying to muster some support for their existence.

  3. Shabbir Lakhani says:

    Ties between Iran and Pakistan have always been good. For years now Pakistan does not even deploy its armed forces near its western borders . We also had the RCD in the past with Pak,Iran and Turkey.
    Pakistan had prestige then and together with Iran and Turkey was making huge strides towards
    industrialisation and consolidating leadership. Alas for our shortsightedness and handing over our country to others powers with different agendas. There was gas and electricity to take all these years
    and strengthen our defence and industry and we chose otherwise. Even today it is making sense and we hope it materialises as compared to the pipedream from turkmenistan ,the terrain and the conflict in between. Lets hope the Govt. is able to oversee the restiveness in the province of Baluchistan. Besides Iran being our brother there is this huge advantage of barter God knows we need employment and trade. And it can open our routes to ECO and the benefit of being the intermediary to China and India.
    As for the orchestrated differences of Shia and Sunni it is obvious that in the process only Muslim
    blood is being shed .There are many sects in Islam and thankfully they all share the common pillars of faith. Anything else needs to be discussed like brothers instead of blind rhetoric and creating discord.
    IT was amplified right after the Afghan war and sadly perpetuated even now . Was not the Pakistan of the 50s , 60s and uptil 1970 Muslim then and there was no such strife as compared to the ignorance we see now. Iran even invested in our textile industries and that ended in ruin. We see Iran as a dynamic country withstanding the severest of pressures, sanctions, and foreign powers surrounding it It is playing it parts at all legal world forums and bravely fighting odds. We can learn from this example and together with Iran and of course our brother Turkey can once again bring much needed leadership, progress, vitality, dynamism, trade , prosperity for our brothers and sisters in Pakistan . Allah knows our people are suffering enough and we need to unite and forge ahead. Inshallah he will grant us
    Success and Objectivity if we are sincere towards our masses and Islam.

  4. Imdadul says:

    It is time for muslim countries to make alliance with Iran which is a strong muslim country with intelligent leadership.Their intelligent diplomacy has kept USA/EU block baffled.Pakistan, Iran, Egypt, Turkey AND saudi should make united Islamic alliance to save muslim Ummah from NATO/USA.

  5. Ashah says:

    why do we seem to forget India with which we have more in common than Iran & Afghanistan

    • Abbas says:

      It should not be forgotten Pakistan ideology calls for Islamic roots. That is the common bond between af-pak-iran. With India we have cultural bond thanks to our media, tomorrow we will be more close to American than india…

    • Aman says:

      absolutly right Ashah..

      • zeeshan baig says:

        But its true Mahmud Ahmadinijad is the man who have a power to face the world.he is a brave man.

        • Shafi says:

          Why Pakistanis can’t see the reasons for Afghanistan’s and Iran’s ventures. Afghanistan wants Taliban off its back and Iran (being isolated) wants Jundallah off its back. Obviously Iran would like to export pipe line too. They cannot achieve their objectives without Pakistan’s help. Once they got what they wanted they would go back to square one i.e hate Pakistan. In 2001 an English journalist wrote an article in the Times. She had spent a lot of time with Karzai during Soviet days and claimed to be very close to him. Her statement was that Karzai hated Pakistan. Which I don’t think has changed.

      • Shahid Ashraf says:

        Abbas! You are right about our common culture and values with Iran and Afghanistan particularly the parts comprising Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. But a larger part of Pakistan i.e. Punjab, Sindh and Kashmir has a lot common with India. The most importantly our language is same! Not religion, not dress, but Language, which I think is the most important element of commonness between people!! Remember, Fall of Dhaka??? East and west Pakistan got together on the basis of ONE religion but got separate within 25 years because of Language!!! :-)

        So, please re-think over what you think and you’ll realise we have lots more common with India than any other neighbouring country!

        • Bobby Kumar says:

          Pakistan has lot more common with India then any other country which include, common language, Food, Dress and most important separated families across the borders.

        • sarmad says:

          There is almost equally number of Muslims living in India and on top of it we both were living in a same country for centuries before splitting apart. We have same cultures, same habits and a common history. The 1857 rebellion against imperial British was fought both by Muslims and Hindus. When I see a Hindi movie I seldom believe that it is not an Urdu movie. Therefore India and even Bangladesh both needs to be in our considerations when we talked about brotherly love and friendly relation with our neighbors.

  6. Ashah says:

    Why do we forget INDIA for brotherly love we have more in common with them than with IRan and Afghanistan

    • Bobby Kumar says:

      Absolutly right Ashah. There are only 3 countries in the world who can claim to be brotherly countries due to their common mother and heritage, they are India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. Every thing else is politics and narrow thinking and bull shit. Right now these brothers are fighting among them just like a fight within a family. But one thing is sure that they do not hate each other and its people look forward to meet each other.
      Pakistan is neither a Arab country nor a Persian country and only thing it has common with them is religion. Religion is not a uniting factor that is why Arab (Muslim) countries are not togather.

      I am surprised that why a common Pakistanis, whom most of them have relatives in India do not consider as good neighbor and brotherly country. It has also 2nd largest population of Muslims in the world. It is strange, that they feel that Iran beacuse it is a muslim country is its well wisher. They do not linked togather by culture, language, food and heritage but India does

  7. Hassan Raza says:

    Unfortunately, Iran and Pakistan will never reach the level of friendship needed to survive in the face of mounting conspiracies to break Pakistan and Iran and carve a new country between them “Balochistan”. As long as Pakistan Army hedges its bet with the Saudi-USA axis, this will not happen. Pakistan must realize that Saudi is not our neighbor but Iran is. We are distant from Iran precisely due to Iranian fears of Pakistan’s loyalty to Saudi and the particular brand of Islam Saudi leaders espouse. Unfortunately, I see a bleak future for both of these countries.

  8. Malik says:

    All three states and leaders are not sincere in cooperation, hence we all suffer. Our acrimonious ambitions against each other are well known . From creating a strategic depth to being a bastion of sunnism and so on have not earned pakistan any ones love in the region. But other two are equally deceptive and sincere. In inernational forums our policies often clash. Iran is pursuing a deadly agenda against west and Israel which it can easily shed. Afghans whip pakistan to hide their incompetence corruption and weak state control It is a conundrum and Iran and Afghans always pleasing India just adds that proverbial pinch of salt that freshens the raw wounds …

  9. A.J.Siddiqui says:

    Iran,Afghanistan and Pakistan are natural allies, because we share the same democracy where sovereignty belongs to Allah.
    As Henry Kissinger once candidly attributed American friendship : “it is far safer being an enemy of the United States than an ally”. But we did not heed to the wise-man’s caveat.
    What we need to do : (i) Honour all our words given to Iran. (ii) Take initiative to revive RCD(long lost cooperation among Turkey, Iran and Pakistan). (iii)This is the most important point. Try to convince India once more to have a NO WAR PACT,besides the MFN (most favourite nation) trade status – for atleast 15 years.Good things sometime take time.

    • Bobby Kumar says:

      India has offered at least 4 times a NO WAR PACT (why 15 years) but were told first resolve other issues. We, people of India and Pakistan do not a PACT between 2 governments but real relationship between them based on respect and non interference in their interior maters. Kind of relationship where we could share our grief and prosperity

  10. Amjad Sani says:

    Iran have a strong relation with Pakistan in past but unfortunately recently shia and suni clashes make away Pakistan and Iran from each other, so according to me Pakistan need to make strong relationship with neighbor countries including Afghanistan and ignore all the past events and start from the beginning.

  11. fazal pai says:

    brotherly love ALWAYS exist between masses, and not among the governments or heads of the states.

    • Rahul says:

      It ain’t about love . Its about need. Lets say if you love iran , are you gonna give him something of yours , no you wont.so would Iran ! So lets not talk about crazy things, come down to reality , how can we help each other . helping each other is not love ! I guess you would understand difference between mutual needs and LOVE :)

  12. Tahir says:

    Between states there are no friends; the interests are supreme. However, it is in Pakistan’s national interest to have a friendly and cordial relations with Iran and Afghanistan. Pakistan must look towards the regional partners for the resolution of regional issues. There is a need to have more meetings like this for better understanding of each others point of view.

  13. Shiroo says:

    We, Iranians, do not nuclear Pakistan as a threat to our national security. We even called it as a nuclear Islamic state. The only factor that deteriorate Pakistan`s relations with its neighbor is The U.S. I think Pakistan should pay more close attentions to its neighbors rather than The US and EU. Just see what they did recently on Baluchistan. They do not want a strong Pakistan, they want to collapse it. I think we should cooperate closely through different economic-cultural-strategic ties, such as ECO.

  14. Farhan says:

    This is the need of the time, may ALLAH give our leaders little courage, I doubt that these are sincere with this.Only Mahmoud Ahmedi Nijad looks committed, the Leader of Pakistan and Afghanistan are puppets.

  15. Ali says:

    Since Pakistan forged a relationship with the u.s after 2001, it has seen nothing but a decline in its image accross the world, a decline in production and it’s economy not to mention the 1000s of people sacrificed as a result of joining the crazy war with the u.s, it is high time that Pakistan says enough is enough, it should now forge strong relations with its neighbours, India, Iran, china, and afghan, only then will the people see peace and prosperity….

  16. Shafi says:

    It is nothing to do with ‘brotherly love’. Any relations with neighboring countries should be on the basis of reciprocal understandings. There is no point in loving somebody who does not reciprocate one’s love. Any relations should be pragmatic and in the interest of Pakistan.
    The days are long gone when there was one ‘Ummah’. There have been many attempts in the past to join hands (Turkey, Iran and Pakistan were at one time very close) but they failed. It is well known that Arabs do not like Pakistanis. Afghanistan does not prefer Pakistan over India. Iran and Pakistan had clashing views about Afghanistan. So my dear brothers if you want to live in a fools paradise it is your prerogative but reality is quite different. However the pipeline between Iran and Pakistan is beneficial to both countries and should be pursued.

  17. syed baqar ahsan says:

    It is now in the interest of both the countries to be quick to make strong alliance/friendship otherwise dividing forces in both countries are too aggressive these day,these characters are from with in us and highly paid so be very watch full all the time.

  18. M. Asghar says:

    Pakistan’s strategic location and the cultural closeness with its neighbours and near-neighbours: Iran, Afghaistan, China, India, Turkey and Central Asia, must be used for regional integration. All the efforts have to be made to keep away the toxic and unreliable presence of the USA and their cohorts in the region. Moreover, the closeness with Iran is indespensable for the pressing energy needs of the country.

  19. Mustafa Moiz says:

    Iran is our enemy and we should remember that. If Iran does build a nuclear bomb, it will be used against Pakistan. Afghanistan is also a hostile neighbour.

    • Shakil says:

      Pakistan’s future is with it’s neighbors. Even if Iran is our enemy (which is not the case for sure), we should work hard to make friends with them.

    • Ashar says:

      How in the world did you reach that conclusion?

      • Mustafa Moiz says:

        Look at the complete about face in Iranian foreign policy ever since 1979. Look at how ties with India and ties with Pakistan have changed since 1979. Also look at Iran’s completely different interests from Pakistan in Afghanistan. So we have no common ground there either. And look at when Iran’s nuclear program started in 1999. What significant event occurred right before then?

    • Ali says:

      If Iran is standing for the rights of Muslims against the western powers and dictatorial regimes, and just because of this it is our enemy. Can you tell one single country other than China who is our friend.

      • Naved says:

        One who does not recognise that who is his friend and who is his enemy, in fact is the biggest enemy of himself. I can just lament on your thinking & pray for your guidance.

      • Asad says:

        Mustafa Moiz is biased with iran,may be because of shia state

        • Rahul says:

          See .. thats the whole problem is . why we always think about religion. why not about welfare of people !.

      • Mustafa Moiz says:

        Turkey. Saudi Arabia.
        And Iran is a dictatorial regime, where is it standing for the rights of Muslims? It is only talking and giving a good performance, but it isn’t going to take any solid steps in support of Muslims. Witness its support for the Assad regime in Syria and its support of traitors in Afghanistan.

        • Muhammad says:

          Dear Moiz,

          You must be living in utopia according to you Saudi Arabia is not a dictatorial state amazing ! and look who is the only country who is supporting Palestine people in letter and spirit only Iran and further you call elected government in Afghanistan traitors what happened to you my dear you should first study the subject matter then write on it.

          • Mustafa Moiz says:

            I did not say Saudi Arabia was not under a dictatorship, I was only pointing out that Iran is also a dictatorship because Ali said Iran was standing up to Western powers and dictatorial regimes. And with regards to Palestine, quite frankly, I don’t care.

          • Muhammad says:

            Moreover, Mr. Moiz Saudi Arabia is also supporting Karzai government and they both have quite brotherly relationships

  20. Baryalai says:

    If Pakistan wants to have a strong and friendly relations with its neighbors, then its important to support the governments of the neighboring states.

    A stable Iran and Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan. the people of Pakistan need to realize this and ask the their government to support democracy and governments

    regards

  21. murali says:

    So many comments and views and not even a single word of hate against India. Thank you all.

    • M. Asghar says:

      In spite of the some well-known “disputes of neighbours”, India is a part of the regional Asia and their well-fare cannot be but through peaceful coxistence against the odds thrown from outside, particularly, the going-bankrupt West.

    • Nadeem says:

      Murali,,, i agree with u ,,,, we need more comments like this

    • Kenneth says:

      Dawn caters to a very mature clientele in Pakistan, moreso the views expressed in Dawn are thought provoking and not exploitative as seen in mainstream Pakistani press, thus u see responsible comments on dawn; their policy invokes pragmatic intellectual debate.

      • Rahul says:

        @Kenneth.. You remarks about dawn are absolutely right. Some times you should third grades news from Times of India. I am sick of those guys .

  22. Anwer Kirmani says:

    A strong, presperous and confident country is always built around good neighbours. Trade becomes complementary rather than competitive. It becomes cost effective because of geographical proximity. It becomes less susceptible to being held hostage. There is always a commonality between cultures of neighbouring countries which can augment good foreign relationship and promote people to people ties. People can share some element of each others history as is the case between Pakistan, India , Iran, Afghanistan and also China in the northern areas of Pakistan. Regional trade gives rise to a need for regional defence. Regional defence is cost effective, more ‘productive’ and a lesser drain on the resources of a single country. It dissipates the need for ‘power projection’ at the cost of the national exchequer. Educational institutions start flourishing. New research opens new vistas in every field.
    I am all for a regional pact between Pakistan, Afghanistan, India, Iran, China, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka. With over 2.5 billion souls we can create a huge market of our own. ALL FOR REGIONAL PEACE AND STABILITY. Fed up with wars and strife. Most of it not even created by us.

    • Bobby Kumar says:

      Totally agreed with Mr Kirmani. It is not only required for welfare of our people but a noble thing to do in this part of world. I as a Indian think we are the closest relative and do not mind to admit that we are blood relative of Pakistan, Afganistan, Bangladesh and Iran. This is first time I noticed in this discussion that India is not an enemy but Friend. We must keep up this spirit. GOD BLESS US.

  23. The recent landings of president of Iran and the president of Afghanistan on the land of Pakistan witness that there has to be strong relations among these countries.we all people of these countries hope that there will be long lasting relations based on sincere co-operations in socio-economic sectors.

  24. Altaf Hussain says:

    The recent visit of Iranian and Afghnistan’s President to Islamabad is showing a good gesture of lively Pakistan’s foreign policy. We have heard in 1973 when that times P.M. Z.A. Bhutto invited Islamic countries head of states to Islamic conference. As I have read about this visit of our very closed neighbours, it made me happy and given hope that our leaders are also doing something towards strenghtening relations with our important western neighbours which is vital for existence and developement of each country. EU and Allies always take common action against the countries which do not obey their instructions and they attack together on disobedient countrie!

    Why we cannot unite and strenghten the relations with their immediate neighbours like Afghnistan,China and Iran? Good neighbours are always better and helpful than far living relatives!

    I appreciate the President and P.M. of Pakistan for recent summit of Afghnistan’s and Iran’s leader in Islamabd, and it is hopefull and progressive step towards regional foreign policy!

    I request to the media that it should give an impulse towards making a policy which is based on good and strong friendship bilateral relations with our neighbours which are absolutely vital for Pakistan!

    Altaf Hussain
    Salzburg, Austria

  25. A.J.Siddiqui says:

    Beutifully expressed views Mr. Malik ! like “mere monh ki baat cheen li aap nay”
    translated as:(You stole my words from my mouth).
    One point I might add that we need to have a No War Pact with India for at least fifteen years.

Dawn.com on Facebook


dawn.com on Facebook

Advertisement