The meeting of the Foreign and European Affairs Committee with Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri was interesting on two main counts: the topicality of the subjects covered as well as the experience of meeting such a seasoned diplomat as Kasuri, who seems to have mastered his brief to perfection.
He hopped from one subject to the other with a particular flair, be it the internal situation in Pakistan, Pakistan’s strategic relations with both China and the US, the aftermath of the Afghan war and Indo-Pakistani relations in the wake of six successive wars, as well as the Middle East. Also covered were Pakistani-EU relations in general and Pakistani-Maltese relations in particular, not forgetting the way things had kicked off bilaterally when the Pakistani airline PIA was instrumental in the establishment of our own national airline, Air Malta, in the 1970s.
Just hours before attending the meeting in the Maltese House of Representatives, I came to learn that although Pakistan does not recognise Israel diplomatically, the Pakistani President was due to address an important Jewish Council in New York while attending the UN Summit this week – a signal that relations were bound to thaw even if under the aegis of an interfaith dialogue.
While the minister was intrigued by my questions on Pakistan and the Middle East (including Israel), it was interesting to note that literally the day after our meeting, he met the Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom on “neutral” ground in Turkey.
Although this will not necessarily translate itself into the establishment of full diplomatic relations between Israel and Pakistan, it sent a signal of a new form of engagement between the two countries, possibly in recognition of Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.
Kasuri commented to this effect when interviewed by the international media.
Israel to-date has diplomatic relations with only four Muslim countries: Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Mauritania but one must bear in mind that Pakistan is not just another Muslim state. It is the second largest Muslim country after Indonesia.
Strategically, Israel seems to be very interested in establishing diplomatic relations with more and more Muslim and Arab countries.
A more positive stance on the Middle East, with particular emphasis on the occupation of the West Bank, could facilitate such a process.
Although such a normalisation process might take time, and several diplomatic steps might need to be taken in the initial stages before full diplomatic relations are restored, one cannot but welcome any initiatives that will be confidence-building measures in their own right.
Pisanu, illegal immigrants and terrorism
A couple of weeks ago, the Interior Minister lightly dismissed a query of mine raised during the Foreign and European Affairs Committee as to the prospect of having would-be terrorists entering the island under cover of illegal immigrants.
The Italian Minister of the Interior, Giuseppe Pisanu, seems to think differently on this matter.
About a year ago, he told the magazine L’Espresso that there was a strong possibility of Al-Qaeda terrorists entering Italian territory covertly on board illegal immigrants’ make-shift boats. One year later, the Italian Minister seems to be sticking to his original views. Only last week he stated that this hypothesis has been consolidated further on the basis of intelligence gathered from sources close to the Horn of Africa and other “zones” where Al-Qaeda is known to operate freely.
It would be both interesting and in the national interest, if our Home Affairs Minister were to consult his Italian counterpart on this issue.
The relevance of such an update gains in importance when bearing in mind that we shall be hosting so many VIPs during the forthcoming CHOGM meeting in November.
I do not intend to sound unnecessarily alarmist, but taking precautionary measures is the least that we could do under present circumstances.
It is bad enough that our armed forces and police will be overstretched with the task of coping with illegal immigrants at the time that we will be hosting this high profile conference.
While on the subject of illegal immigration, all those who are trying to play down its negative socio-economic impact on our country would be well advised to update themselves regularly with articles appearing frequently on the website of the Sicilian newspaper La Sicilia. This shows that, contrary to what has been implied in the columns of this newspaper by other contributors, the people of Lampedusa simply cannot cope with the problem anymore, even though they have managed to repatriate some 1,600 illegal immigrants out of 3,000!
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Leo Brincat is the main opposition spokesperson on Foreign Affairs and IT