Pakistan and Israel could have better achieved their objectives by continuing to keep their relationship clandestine. Why did they have to make it open, with its attendant risks for the personal security of Musharraf?
Pakistan and Israel have had and continue to have strong reasons for working towards a close relationship between the two. Pakistan mainly has three interests:
The dangers of a religious backlash would not permit Pakistan at present to establish a formal diplomatic relationship with Israel . However, Pakistan has other strong lollipops to offer to Israel , which the latter would not be able to resist:
The Israeli interests are:
If one day there has to be a raid on Iran's nuclear establishments either by the US or by Israel or by the two acting jointly, the use of the Pakistani territory for facilitating such a raid would be helpful. An increasing comfort level between Pakistan and Israel could make this possible.
One could ask: Pakistan and Israel could have better achieved their objectives by continuing to keep the relationship clandestine. Why did they have to make it open, with its attendant risks for the personal security of Musharraf? I would find it difficult to answer this question on the basis of available evidence.
While Musharraf should be able to withstand any open backlash on this issue from the Pakistani fundamentalist organisations, his action in openly courting Israel runs the risk of aggravating threats to his security from the Al Qaeda and other jihadi terrorist organisations as well as from fundamentalist elements in the Armed Forces.
Every country acts according to its national interests. So has Israel in moving closer to Pakistan . There is no point in India sulking over it. However, India would have strong grounds for unhappiness and unease, if Israel had not kept it informed in advance of its moves in this regard.
B. Raman is Additional Secretary (retd), Cabinet Secretariat, Govt. of India, and, presently, Director, Institute for Topical Studies, Chennai, and Distinguished Fellow , International Terrorism Watch Programme (ITWP), Observer Research Foundation (ORF), and Convenor, Chennai Chapter of the ORF.