top of page

By:

Correspondent

21 August 2024 at 10:20:16 am

Broker’s Farce

If diplomacy is theatre, then the recently collapsed US–Iran talks in Islamabad was an elaborate farce staged with all the solemnity of statecraft but none of its credibility. After 21 hours of marathon discussions, the outcome was as predictable as it was embarrassing with no agreement or breakthrough achieved, and no illusions left intact. Except, perhaps, among those still inclined to believe that Pakistan could ever serve as an ‘honest broker.’ But the fact that the talks failed is hardly...

Broker’s Farce

If diplomacy is theatre, then the recently collapsed US–Iran talks in Islamabad was an elaborate farce staged with all the solemnity of statecraft but none of its credibility. After 21 hours of marathon discussions, the outcome was as predictable as it was embarrassing with no agreement or breakthrough achieved, and no illusions left intact. Except, perhaps, among those still inclined to believe that Pakistan could ever serve as an ‘honest broker.’ But the fact that the talks failed is hardly the story. It is that they were held at all in Pakistan, a nation that has openly sponsored terror. The premise itself was surreal. Two bitter adversaries - the United States and Iran - were expected to bridge their deepest differences under the watchful mediation of a country whose own record in international affairs is deeply compromised. Pakistan was a curious choice of venue, akin to asking an arsonist to supervise a fire safety drill. Pakistan’s proponents – from Donald Trump and a section of his inner circle to its admirers within India’s self-styled ‘left-liberal’ circles - have long indulged the fiction of Islamabad as a misunderstood stabilising force in the region. This section of the Indian commentariat in particular, with its strident opposition to PM Modi and the ruling BJP, rhapsodize about Pakistan’s ‘strategic importance,’ its ‘geopolitical leverage’ and its supposed ability to convene difficult conversations. For anyone with eyes to see, the far more inconvenient truth is that Pakistan’s state apparatus has for decades been entangled with precisely the kinds of non-state actors and duplicities that make genuine diplomacy impossible. To cast such a state as a neutral mediator in one of the world’s most sensitive geopolitical disputes was wilfully absurd to begin with. Predictably, the talks foundered on the most intractable issues. The United States, represented by Vice President JD Vance, reiterated its insistence on a verifiable commitment from Iran to abandon any pursuit of nuclear weapons capability. Iran, for its part, dismissed Washington’s demands as excessive and unlawful, pointing to broader grievances that included sanctions, war reparations and control over the Strait of Hormuz. These are structural antagonisms embedded in decades of conflict. What, then, was Pakistan expected to contribute? Moral authority? Strategic clarity? Institutional trust? It possesses none in sufficient measure. Instead, Islamabad offered what it often does - optics without substance, posturing without consequence. One might reasonably ask whether the intent was ever genuine. For Pakistan, the benefits of hosting such talks are largely reputational. In a country perennially seeking international validation and frequent international bailouts, playing host to high-stakes negotiations offers a fleeting veneer of relevance. It allows its leadership to project an image of indispensability, even as its domestic and economic realities tell a different story. While diplomacy is the art of restraining power without humiliation, Pakistan’s turn as broker looked more like the art of staging illusions without consequence. Can America pick better mediators?

Bhujbal’s chopper lands in Pune parking lot

Mumbai: In what is suspected to be a breach of aviation protocols, a chartered helicopter ferrying Food & Civil Supplies Minister Chhagan Bhujbal from Mumbai to Pune skipped a designated helipad and landed in a vehicle parking lot almost a km away.

 

The shocker happened in Purandar taluka, where Bhujbal was slated to attend a function marking the 200th birth anniversary of the social reformer Mahatma Jyotirao Phule in his home village Khanwadi.

 

As crowds of bewildered people watched from around the sprawling parking lot, the helicopter appeared to drop speed in its flight, flew over some overhead high-tension electric cables, and descended gingerly into the parking lot - raising a thick dust-storm in which it disappeared for seconds - before touching the ground.

 

Moments later, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) senior leader Bhujbal and others stepped out of the chopper, looked around in the unfamiliar territory before several vehicles and police teams rushed there. Minutes before there was chaos and confusion with some locals shouting warnings at the ‘wrong landing’.

 

Eyewitnesses said that the chopper’s powerful rotors created a thick dust storm and sparked alarm among the people in the vicinity, and many scrambled to the spot to check what exactly was going on in the parking lot.

 

Later, the Pune Police said that a designated helipad was available for the chopper landing but were at a loss to explain how the pilot missed it and veered off quite a distance away in the vehicle parking space. Subsequently, they asked the pilot to fly it to the correct landing spot.

 

Shaken and angry local NCP leaders questioned how a pilot flying a VIP on an official trip could mistake a parking lot for a helipad when the weather and visibility was clear. They demanded to know whether the helipad was improperly marked or it was a question of communication or sheer negligence.

 

The Pune Police indicated that they would report the matter to the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) which may take action against the errant pilot and the helicopter company.

 

“There was no accident. We all emerged safely. The helicopter pilot landed wrongly in a parking lot because the helipad was not visible. All of us are fine and there is nothing to worry,” said Bhujbal, before he was whisked off by his security team.

 

“There are many faults in numerous airplanes and helicopters, including maintenance issues and other problems. That's why I keep saying consistently that VIPs must exercise caution while flying. Fortunately, an accident was averted today, but that doesn't mean the authorities should be negligent. We expect the government to take urgent precautions.”

Rohit R. Pawar, MLA, NCP (SP)


Comments

bottom of page