This was stated by Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) parliamentarian Dr Shireen Mazari at a seminar titled “Changing Global Power Dynamics and Challenges for Foreign Policy of Pakistan”, organised by SDPI in Islamabad on Monday, according to a press release.
Dr Mazari said that as of today, Pakistan did not have any active or proactive foreign policy, even with regards to India or Afghanistan. She said our foreign policy actions are mostly based on reactions to events.
She added that after Donald Trump’s victory in the recent US presidential elections, there has been an increase in tensions along the Line of Control (LoC), which needs to be considered.
Dr Mazari said that the US had never accepted Pakistan’s nuclear status, and wanted to destabilise Pakistan. ‘We have done no diplomacy on our nuclear program and are solely dependent on China,” she said.
“We need to evolve an issue-specific relationship with the US and look in our strategic interest, as we can’t keep hoping that US would come and help us and will be kind to us,” she added.
While commenting on the US elections, Dr Mazari said that Trump’s victory was in line with the global rise of right wing politicians.
Defense analyst Gen (retd) Amjad Shoaib said that it was a difficult time for our foreign policy and foreign office to shape future course of actions when there was a global shift in alliances. He added that we Pakistan would have to be very careful when dealing with new friends and immediate neighbors.
Gen (retd) Shoaib said every time the US thinks that Pakistan is not important to them any more, they ditch Pakistan. He said Islamabad’s relationship with Washington should be cordial.
“I personally don’t see any major change in US foreign policy, as it would be difficult for Trump to change the foreign policy of the United States,” he added.
Gen (retd) Shoaib lamented that Pakistan had failed miserably to present its case to the international community on terrorism, and now the country was bearing the brunt of its impact. Meanwhile, India was successful in convincing the world that Pakistan was the epicentre of terrorism.
Ambassador (retd) Tariq Osman Hyder said Pakistan may have a more difficult time with a Trump-led US. We may see declining assistance from the US and might lose support on the military front, he feared.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 15th, 2016.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ