Mushtaq Travel

Published: 4:33PM BST 01 Sep 2010: Mohammad Asif, the Pakistani international fast-bowler at the centre of the match-fixing scandal, has been dropped from his debut film role as cricket coach with high ethical standards.

WASHINGTON-Chidanand Rajgahtta, TNN, Sep 2, 2010, 01.26am IST
The increasingly frayed ties between Washington and Islamabad unraveled a little further this week after a slew of misunderstandings led to a Pakistani military delegation being offloaded from a commercial flight in the US. In retaliation, a distraught Pakistan scrubbed the visit and recalled the team home despite an apology from the Pentagon for the incident.

It all began when a nine-member group of high-ranking Pakistani military officers led by a brigadier general boarded United Airlines flight 727 at Washington Dulles Airport to Tampa for a visit to the US Central Command headquarters, on a US invitation. According to the Pakistani version, a travel-weary member of the delegation, which had just arrived in the US after a long journey from Pakistan, said, I hope this is my last flight or words to that effect.

The comment was either reported by a passenger or overheard by a crew member; in either case, it was misconstrued or deemed inappropriate, according to the airline. Ground officials were notified even as the plane was ready to depart. Security personnel with guns boarded the plane and the officer was asked to disembark. Moments later, the whole delegation was offloaded.

Explanations and altercations followed. The plane was held up for more than 40 minutes beyond its departure time; many passengers, scared by the commotion, also disembarked and rebooked on other flights.

According to the Pakistanis, the delegation was refused telephonic access to the Pakistani embassy and airport security officials declined to recognize letters of invitations from their hosts and explanations about the innocuous remark made by one of the officers. By the time the matter was sorted out several hours later, ending with an apology from the Pentagon for the fracas and United offering to rebook the team on another flight, an angry Islamabad had directed the delegation return to Pakistan in protest against the treatment.

This is not the first time that Pakistanis have taken offence to treatment in US airport, a theme that forms part of a growing South Asian narrative about racial profiling and discrimination at the hands of US security. One American explanation is that it is result of cultural misunderstandings many people from the subcontinent have a sense of privilege that put pride and prestige ahead of security concerns and often causes them to be abrasive.

In this case, the Pakistanis claim their delegation was well-behaved and courteous, submitted to questioning, and furnished all possible proof and documentation about their bona fides; it was the US security people who were abrasive. They did not let them speak and treated them like terrorists, a Pakistani official was quoted as saying.

The investigators were unprofessional, junior officials.

In any event, the episode adds to a growing body of incidents that have led the two countries and their militaries to mistrust each other. US officials dishonestly keep praising Islamabad’s fight against terrorism even though their people on the ground record massive evidence (revealed in Wikileaks) that show Pakistan using terrorism to further what it deems as its strategic objectives.

At the same time, US officials also openly accuse Pakistan of harbouring Taliban and al-Qaida elements and endorse the drone campaign while at the same time lavishing billions of dollars in military and civilian aid.

The mismatch between stated policy, ground reality, perceptions, and execution is causing deep schisms in US-Pakistan ties that come to the fore in episodes such as the one at Washington Dulles.