Washington, Aug 1 (ANI): After Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani's first US visit, American think tanks, lobbyists, Congressmen, retired diplomats and bureaucrats are said to be a disappointed lot, and Washington has reportedly decided not to take him seriously as the premier appeared "remote controlled" by someone in the background, said an article in The News.
Further elaborating, the paper said that Washington was not happy with Gilani's visit because the man who represented democracy in Pakistan "fell short on many scores". Not that the official Washington did not know but the real Washington needed to have a firsthand look at the man they were being asked to deal with after Gen Musharraf.
The top US officials and former diplomats couldn't get the perception and confidence that Gilani was the right man who they could instantly start dealing with, trust and depend on, said the paper.
It added: "What they found lacking was the depth of understanding and vision in dealing with complex international and security issues, articulation to comprehend and project Pakistani policies in a clear and candid way, more so on public places than in closed door meetings. They did not find the will and the capacity in the prime minister to grasp the importance of issues, take control of matters and make decisions which he could sustain."
According to the paper, the ISI fiasco during his visit particularly botched up Gilani's image. "The one issue which damaged Gilani's credibility as a potentially serious leader and policy-maker was the brutally botched up ISI fiasco. Whoever did this to Gilani actually torpedoed his US visit, which turned into a non-starter the moment the ISI notification was withdrawn. It was beyond Gilani to stand by his order for more than a few hours and Washingtonians got the message that they were dealing with a non-entity and should not take him seriously."
Taking a dig at the Prime Minister's oratorical skills, the paper said that whenever Gilani read from a written script, he was coherent, articulate and looked like a man who knew what he was talking about. "But the moment the script was over and he had to answer questions, the level of discourse and understanding came crashing down to earth. The contrast was so stark and embarrassing it discounted both the images Gilani presented and made him look like artificial and someone who was being remote-controlled," it added.
The paper described Gilani as a na?ve as far as foreign diplomacy is concerned. It said: "Washington was not ready for such a visit and whoever forced it on Gilani did a great disservice to the man, to the party he represents and to Pakistan's infant democracy. At a time of great internal political, administrative, security, economic and social turmoil, packing him off to Washington as a showpiece, so early in office, could at best be described as a deep conspiracy of sorts. His insincere advisers, more interested in their own self-projection, pushed him to fly across the Atlantic for performing the impossible task of exposing himself to the most sophisticated, important and hawk-eyed audience of decision makers to be found anywhere in the world." (ANI)
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