If Foreign Minister Shah mehmood Qureshi has somehow formed the impression that his job is best done by committing gaffes, that being the face of Naya Pakistan means offending anyone he wants, his remarks on Friday while being interviewed by CNN on Friday about the Israel-Hamas truce should be proof enough. By saying that the favourable coverasge for Israel was due to its ‘deep pockets’, he merely built on racialist tropes of the moneygrubbing Jewish usrer, going back to Marlowe’s Jew of Malta and Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. A few pointed references to the Illuminati and the Freemasons were all that needed to be thrown in to complete the picture Mr Qureshi was trying to paint.
His casual denial of antisemitism will not absolve him of the crime. Indeed, his last questionable statement was the one absolving India for having abolished Kashmir’s special status. This had left him scrambling for damage control. However, his taking on Saudi Arabia for not letting the Kashmir issue be raised at the OIC not only laid him open to the charge of antisemitism, but left the country in need of personal diplomacy from both the Prime Miniister and the COAS to mend Pakistan’s fences with a strong ally.
That episode should have taught Mr Qureshi that his job is to mend fences, not to tear them down personally. His portfolio does not give him license to commit gaffes against all comers, but to make sure that the blunders of others are covered effectively. Mr Qureshi’s ministry officials have been under fire from no one less than the Prime Minister. Mr Qureshi should get down to sorting out that particular issue first, rather than kicking up more dust that will need to be settled by diplomacy. To take the latest example, Mr Qurshi’s point, that the coverage of the Israeli-Pakistani conflict was biased, could well have been made without using stereotypes long abandoned. He should remember that his purpose should not be to preen himself before the domestic PTI base, but to represent Pakistan to uncaring and casually hostile audiences abroad.
