The saying "the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing" perhaps befits the present rulers of Pakistan. There are two cases in point: one, visits to China by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and President Asif Ali Zardari; and two the snub that Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi suffered when the Indian cricket team captain refused to receive the Asia Cup trophy from him in Dubai. And this all boils down to a basic question: is the treatment related to the credibility of and respect for Pakistan's leadership as a whole?

First on the Sino-Pak relations. Why send unnecessarily mixed signals about a relationship that has survived multiple crises on the back of an unwavering commitment by the Chinese leadership – which is extremely measured, modest and cognisant of the geopolitical complications that Pakistan currently faces?

Close associates touted President Zardari's recent 10-day visit to China as a "soft reset" in Pakistan-China relations, as if something were not right in the relations.

Only a couple of weeks earlier, Prime Minister Sharif had described the Pakistan China relationship as "ironclad" and "all weather, unique and unparalleled bilateral association that needs to be further enhanced. Sharif made these lofty........

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