"Pakistan's Turmoil Leads to Decision to Skip US Democracy Summit"

 

Pakistan has announced that it will not participate in this week's U.S.-led Summit for Democracy, a move that is seen in part as an attempt to appease China, which was not invited to the summit. The Biden administration has invited 120 global leaders to the summit, which is being co-hosted by Costa Rica, the Netherlands, South Korea, and Zambia in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday. Pakistan's Foreign Ministry released a statement thanking the United States and its co-hosts for the invitation, but the country did not attend the first and only other summit in December 2021.

Pakistan, the fifth-largest country in the world with a population of over 220 million, has a functional democracy, although critics argue that it ranks among the worst democracies in the world. The statement from Pakistan's Foreign Ministry said that the country would engage with the United States and co-hosts of the summit bilaterally to promote and strengthen democratic principles, advance human rights, and fight against corruption.

Pakistan did not attend the 2021 summit due to growing tension between then-Prime Minister Imran Khan's government and the U.S. administration of President Joe Biden. Relations between Washington and Khan were further strained when Khan visited Moscow in February 2022 during the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Khan was ousted two months later in a no-confidence vote in Parliament by an alliance of major political parties, and he has since alleged that the vote that removed him was a U.S.-organized plot, a charge that Washington and Khan's successor, Shehbaz Sharif, have denied.

The summit is taking place days after a leading international rights group expressed concern in its annual report over continued violations of human rights in Pakistan, including enforced disappearances, curtailments on peaceful assembly, and tightening of controls on freedom of speech. Amnesty International said that "blasphemy allegations continued to spark violence against both religious minorities and Muslims" in 2022. Fawad Chaudhry, a senior leader from Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party, released a report describing how the current government under Sharif is continuing a crackdown on Khan supporters that began with his ouster in April. He said that hundreds of Khan supporters have been detained in recent weeks.

According to Pakistani analyst Imtiaz Gul, executive director at the Islamabad-based Center for Research and Security Studies, there were multiple factors behind Pakistan's decision to skip the summit. One of them is Pakistan's desire to appease Chinese concerns, as China has been helping Pakistan overcome its deepening economic crisis. China has invested billions of dollars in Pakistan, much of it in the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, a sprawling initiative that includes road construction, power plants, agriculture, and a 3,200-kilometer (2,000-mile) road linking China to Pakistan's deep-water port of Gwadar in the southwest. Pakistan hopes the project will bring prosperity to the country.

China has also deposited millions into Pakistan's central bank to boost its fast-declining foreign exchange reserves to save Pakistan from a default amid the country's worst-ever economic crisis. Talks with the International Monetary Fund for a bailout have been on hold since last year, which has annoyed Pakistan. The country has been trying to get help from Washington to influence the IMF into releasing loan to Pakistan. Pakistan's premier told parliament on Tuesday that the IMF wants external financing commitments made by several friendly countries to be fulfilled to get the $1.1 billion tranche from the $6 billion bailout, and he hoped that the commitments made by Pakistan's friends will be fulfilled.

Gul also noted the growing instability in Pakistan amid a widening crackdown on Khan and his political party as a factor for Pakistan's decision to bow out of the summit. "It does not happen in democracies what is happening