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By Dante “Klink” Ang 2nd, Executive
Editor
Manila’s envoy to Islamabad explains that
Pakistan is important to the Philippines in the same way to it is
significant to the rest of the world. Indeed, Pakistan seems to
enjoy a level of influence and attention disproportionate for a
small, developing country.
That is because Pakistan is a frontline state in
the war against terrorism and, related to that, against
international drug syndicates. Pakistan is a neighbor of
Afghanistan, home of the Talibans, sanctuary of the al-Qaeda terror
network, and once occupied by the Soviet Union. Even during the Cold
War between the United States and former USSR, the global powers
recognized the strategic location of Pakistan, which is also next to
oil-rich Iran and to another Red state, China.
Recently, US Deputy Secretary State John
Negroponte (formerly Washington’s ambassador to the Philippines)
said Pakistan is too important to ignore. That predominantly Muslim
country is a key ally in the US-led war on terror. With American
financial and military support, Pakistan recently claimed to have
broken the network of al-Qaeda. For their part, the Talibans have
been dealt setbacks and have been reduced to five command
structures, which are difficult to wipe out completely because of
support by tribes living along the porous border of Pakistan and
Afghanistan. The difficulties notwithstanding, Pakistan boasts of
substantial gains—more than 1,400 terrorists killed, including 535
foreigners, and nearly 2,400 arrested, including 325 foreigners.
Pakistan has four military divisions (about
120,000 troops) manning the mountainous and often inhospitable
border terrain. Part of their job is to intercept drugs smuggled
from Afghanistan. Terrorists have been growing or supporting the
cultivation of opium crops to help finance their operations. In
recent times, the Afghans have gone into large-scale planting of
opium that is made into illicit drugs sold worldwide.
Philippine interests
Closer to home, Pakistan is important to the
Philippines for many reasons. One is bilateral trade, which may be
relatively small today and largely in favor of Pakistan but holds
much promise. Philippine imports from that country are worth more
than $42.3 million in 2006, an increase of 71 percent from the
previous year, according to the National Statistics Office. Topping
the list is garments, but Ambassador Muhammad Naeem Khan,
Pakistan’s envoy in Manila, wants to sell medicines and rice to
the Philippines. The Philippines, through the government-owned
Philippine International Trading Corp., already has an agreement
with Pakistan to bring in cheaper drugs under the parallel
importation law. Pakistan has a strong pharmaceutical industry and
is already exporting drugs, which is the reason for the surge of
Pakistani imports to the Philippines.
Philippine exports to Pakistan are smaller,
valued at about $28.8 million in 2006. And compared to the year
before, exports declined nearly nine percent, according to the same
National Statistics Office report. But Philippine Ambassador Jimmy
Yambao in Islamabad, Pakistan’s capital, sees potential. One such
potential is tea that Pakistanis love to drink even more so, it
seems, than coffee. Like the Brits, they drink tea, strongly brewed,
with milk and sugar. But for all their love for tea, the brands
available in Pakistan seem to be limited and dominated by Lipton,
the same brand that is commonly available in the Philippines.
Filipinos probably stand a better chance at selling tea to
Pakistanis than do Indians, against whom they fought many wars.
Another growing export to Pakistan is Filipino
labor. About 3,000 overseas Filipinos workers are now in Pakistan,
most working for international organizations in Islamabad. There is
a small but growing domestic-labor market for Filipinos, who are in
high demand by affluent Pakistanis because of their educational
background. It is conceivable that Filipino domestic helpers will
literally have a hand in molding the next generation of wealthy and
influential Pakistanis.
Nearly 60 years of ties
The friendly bond between the Philippines and
Pakistan is not new and important to note. Both countries fought
against communism and were signatories to the Manila Pact that later
became the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO), which
strengthened diplomatic, economic and security relations during the
Cold War. Even after that treaty was phased out in 1977, Pakistan
and the Philippines remained friends.
Pakistan and the Philippines signed a Treaty of
Friendship and Cooperation in 1954, and in 1961, they signed a trade
agreement. Then-Philippine President Diosdado Macapagal followed up
the signing with a six-day visit to Pakistan in July 1962. Traveling
with him was his youngest daughter, now President Gloria Arroyo.
There have been several state visits between the two countries since
1962. And Islamabad has invited President Arroyo to Pakistan next
year, in commemoration of the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties
between the two countries.
Pakistan is also active in this region, becaming
a member of the Asean Regional Forum in 2004. Asean is a regional
bloc of 10 Southeast Asian countries that includes the Philippines,
which is striving to be admitted as an observer in the Organization
of Islamic Conference (OIC). That group is brokering the peace talks
between the Philippine government and Muslim secessionist groups,
the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) and the Moro National
Liberation Front (MNLF), which has already signed a peace agreement
with the state. The OIC already recognizes the MNLF as a
non-government organization or NGO observer. Being an observer would
be helpful for the government to gain international support from
Islamic countries for its peace initiatives in Mindanao. The
assistance of Pakistan, a member of the Islamic conference, and
other Muslim countries is important if the Philippines wants to
become observer and, ultimately, achieve lasting peace in its
southern region.
Home-front security
Friendship with Pakistan is also important to
national security, particularly in Mindanao. During the fight to
repel Soviets from Afghanistan, hundreds of thousands of Filipino
rebels trained in Pakistan and Afghanistan and fought with the
mujahideen (holy warriors), according to research conducted by the
Islamabad Policy Research Institute, a think thank funded by the
Pakistani government. Hashim Salamat, founder of the MILF, lived in
Pakistan for several years. Nur Misuari of the MNLF also traveled to
that country, where his first wife died and remains buried.
Many of the Filipino rebels went there to study
in madrasas or Islamic schools. Today, the Pakistani government is
trying to clamp down on madrasas, which some have argued train
terrorists. To be fair, only one percent to 2 percent of the some
15,000 madrasas in Pakistan are believed to be “problematic,”
according to sources at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute.
About 60 Filipinos are now studying at madrasas
in Pakistan, according to the Philippine embassy in Islamabad. Amb.
Yambao has visited these schools and is in regular contact with the
Filipino students. He does not believe that the madrasas that
admitted the Filipinos are part of the problematic ones. Still, the
envoy said those Filipinos will someday return to the Philippines as
religious leaders, who will be highly influential in local Muslim
communities. The Pakistani government’s efforts to break the
terrorist influence over the madrasas will obviously have positive
consequences for peace here at home.
Editor’s note: The Islamabad Policy
Research Institute recently invited Filipino journalists to their
country. The Manila Times was part of that media delegation.
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