The Soviet Union

Abstract

Pakistan’s relations with the Soviet Union have been marked by indifference, distrust, and mutual recriminations on one account or another, although there were brief periods when these could be described as correct and cordial. Many people in Pakistan believe that a strain in its relations with the Soviet Union cannot be avoided for a host of reasons. For some, the non-compatibility of Islam with Marxism-Leninism makes it difficult for the two states to develop lasting friendship. This line of thinking was subscribed to more often by the ruling elite in the early years of independence, and cited as one of the reasons to justify Liaquat Ali Khan’s decision not to avail himself of the invitation to visit Moscow.¹ Subsequently, this argument was pushed into the background but an untested fear that friendship with Moscow would compromise Pakistan’s Islamic character was entertained by right wing/religious groups. A variant of this argument views Soviet opposition to Pakistan as a consequence of their perception that Pakistan’s Islamic disposition and Islamic resurgent movements could cause an ideological spillover into Soviet Central Asia which had a large Muslim population. Another explanation describes the Soviet Union as an expansionist power which has a ‘grand design’ to establish its hegemony in the world, and that, as Pakistan stands in the way of southward expansion, it views Pakistan as an obstacle to the realization of its foreign policy goals.²