[R-G] Canada Training, Supplying Pakistan Border Guard

[Anthony Fenton]

Embassy, November 14th, 2007
NEWS STORY
Canada Training, Supplying Pakistan Border Guards
A DFAIT report says Canada is training Pakistani security forces and  
funding roundtable peace talks in a northern province, details one  
expert thinks the government has been keen to keep quite.
http://embassymag.ca/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=/2007/ 
november/14/borderguards/
By Lee Berthiaume
Canada has been training and equipping Pakistani security forces to  
better protect their side of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border,  
according to a Foreign Affairs department report tabled in the House  
two weeks ago.

The work began following then-Foreign Affairs minister Peter MacKay's  
trip to Pakistan in January, at which time a Pakistani newspaper  
reported him offering to provide assistance and share Canada's  
expertise in managing its border with the United States.

Mr. MacKay's visit, reads the DFAIT departmental performance report,  
"led to the provision of training and equipment to Pakistani border  
security and law enforcement officials, as well as to the deployment  
of a Border Assessment Mission to identify further areas of co- 
operation."

The government also paid for "conflict resolution roundtable  
sessions" in the northern Pakistani province of Balochistan, where  
hundreds of thousands of Afghan refugees live and insurgents operate.

The porous Pakistan-Afghanistan border has long been a concern for  
international forces in Afghanistan, as insurgents have been able to  
resupply and regroup in Pakistan before slipping back to launch attacks.

Balochistan, as well, has been a problem, especially for Canadian  
soldiers, given its proximity to Kandahar.

Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf has been repeatedly criticized  
for not doing enough to clamp down on insurgents operating out of his  
country, while the rugged terrain that comprises the border region  
makes enforcing security extremely difficult.

The report made no mention of the results of the border assessment,  
nor what kinds of training or equipment is being provided to the  
Pakistani guards, or the associated costs.

The Pakistani High Commission in Ottawa said it could not respond to  
questions as High Commissioner Musa Javed Chohan was unavailable,  
while DFAIT did not respond to questions sent last week.

Tariq Amin-Khan, a South Asia expert at Ryerson University in  
Toronto, said he did not know that Canada was training and equipping  
Pakistani border guards, but he wasn't surprised.

"With Canada being in the line of fire," he said, "I'm sure the  
Canadian government has been in dialogue with the Pakistani government."

The Canadian government has likely kept such co-operation low on the  
public radar because of fears within Mr. Musharraf's administration  
that the public would oppose more signs he is "in bed" with the West.

However, Mr. Amin-Khan was skeptical of the impact training and  
equipping guards along the border will have, given the extreme  
challenges they must face in keeping it closed to insurgents, drug  
smugglers and others who want to slip back and forth.

"I don't think this will really make a big difference," he said.  
"This doesn't address the root causes of those problems. And I'm not  
sure the border will be willing to stop them."

Mr. Amin-Khan also scoffed at the idea that the series of roundtables  
in Balochistan had "contributed to the resolution of conflicts" in  
the province, as the report described the results.

In Balochistan, he said, there are two separate issues: one dealing  
with a nationalist movement that has rebelled against the central  
Pakistan government in the past, and the other being the large number  
of Pashtuns who live in the region and share the same concerns as  
their brethren in Afghanistan.

"I think Balochistan is a powder keg right now," Mr. Amin-Khan said.

lee at embassymag.ca