DAVID Cameron paid a one-day visit to Pakistan yesterday. He would have done better to stay at home. His visit was to clear up misunderstandings of the past, work through the tensions of the present and look to the opportunities of the future.
He carried with him a conditional cheque for 650 million pounds for aid to help educational standards in Pakistan. Relations beween the two countries certainly needed mending after Mr Cameron's negative comment about Pakistan and terrorism made in India last year.
And the aid cheque established Pakistan as the biggest single recipient of UK aid. So far so good. But the British prime minister could not prevent himself from delivering a number of condescending and offensive remarks about a Pakistan suffering weaknesses in terms of government capacity and waste and an elite which does not pay enough tax -- for all the world as if Pakistan were still a dependent colony. There may have been some truth in what he said but he should not have aired his views so openly in front of the Pakistan prime minister and his Cabinet. Nor should he have said that the British public will think the money should have been spent at home. It was an arrogant and ill-judged performance. Jet-lag is the only excuse.
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