Visit but only against reciprocation

Our PM Raja Pervaiz was in Kuwait for 3 days during 15^th to 17^th instant attending 1^st Asian Countries’ Dialogue (ACD) and on the face of it there is nothing wrong to visit Kuwait but at the same time the question of reciprocation does arise which cannot and should not be ignored in any case.

Without going into numerical figures as to how many times our President and Prime Minister both present and past have come to Kuwait, I am more concerned to know as to how many times Kuwait Amir or Crown Prince or Prime Minister have come to Pakistan. I do not have exact figures as to who came and when but still to the best of my knowledge and belief Presidents Farooq Khan Legahri, Gen Pervez Musharraf and Asif Ali Zardari have come to Kuwait even more than 1 time while amongst Prime Ministers I know for sure that Mian Nawaz Sharif, Shaukat Aziz, Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani and Raja Pervaiz Asharf have been to Kuwait for different reasons and there is nothing wrong in visiting Kuwait.

However, my question is as to which Kuwaiti VVIP visited Pakistan and when? Undoubtedly there must have been so many occasions when Kuwaiti VVIPs too along with VVIPs of other countries could be in Pakistan so my question is did they come or not? Didn’t Pakistan invite them at all? Did they refuse to attend any of our function? Just during 15-17 October PM Raja was here along with leaders of 30 Asian leaders to attend 1^st Asian Countries’ Dialogue and Raja called on Amir and conveyed to him the message from President Zardari saying that Zardari has invited Amir Sabah to visit Pakistan which Amir has accepted. Raja when met his Kuwaiti counterpart he extended him an invitation to visit Islamabad and of course he too accepted the invitation. As a matter of courtesy such like invitations were extended to Kuwaiti leadership by our Presidents and Prime Ministers is past too as and when they were here and each time Kuwaiti leaders accepted the invitations but still none visited Pakistan for any set of imagination.

To me it should not be taken so lightly by Pakistan to be honest simply because if we continue believing and practicing in one way traffic then we will always meet the same fate which at least I do not agree with. 

Who agrees with me and who opposes me?

Iqbal Hadi Zaidi / Kuwait