Imperatives of peace with India

ISLAMABAD: Since, currently, we do not have good relations with the US, it would only make sense that we try and have good relations with other countries. Foremost among these would be our immediate neighbours. That is just plain common sense, but clearly, as the saying goes; common sense is usually not that common.

In the interim period, every other day or so, we are being told that the government is reviewing the entire gamut of its relations with America. I would go one step ahead and say that we need to review our relations with all countries.

The world has changed and our foreign policy needs to recognise that change by adapting its worldview accordingly and the way our country interacts with the outside world.

Take, for example, the very important policy aspect relating to ties with India. Here, we need to recognise that there is no alternative to living in lasting peace with our eastern neighbour. This would be mutually beneficial for the people of both countries and in fact, the people of Pakistan could extract great economic benefit from it.

If Pakistan and India have normalised ties, there would be little need for either country to cling to an outside power, such as America, for security. Of course, this is not to say that Pakistan shouldn’t have good ties with developed countries but rather that priority should be given to establishing a permanent peace with India.

Furthermore, as has been already pointed out by experts, Pakistan cannot democratise without transforming itself from a national security state to one driven by national welfare. Anybody who is keen to redefine new terms of engagement with the US without at the same time advocating a lasting peace within South Asia, is living in a fool’s paradise.

Perhaps a serious look at the PPP Manifesto of 2008 may be a good starting point to clear the clouds of war in a nuclear-armed South Asia.

BA Malik

Published in The Express Tribune, January 24^th, 2012.