Sad policies

Prime Minister Imran Khan was “sad” about being unable to attend the Kuala Lumpur Summit last December. In comments made alongside Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, Imran said it was “unfortunate” that some “friends” had a “misconception” that a conference to unify Muslims was instead “going to divide the ummah”. Of course, we all know who those friends are. And we also know that part of the reason they took offence was due to the way they were sidelined from the initial conference planning. Several reports at that time and since then suggested that Pakistan made no effort to take them into confidence before diving headfirst into the water with public statements exalting the merits of the conference. In the process, Pakistan may have mollified some of the outrage from the Middle East, but only by offending several other allies. It is also unfortunate that Imran’s sadness has not resulted in efforts to address the sad state of affairs that led to that mess in the first place.

There are no friendships, only interests, in foreign policy. Pakistani policymakers should know this. Over the years, even its closest friends have let it down, or at the very least, not helped enough in times of crisis if it was not in their interest. That doesn’t make them bad friends. It just means that they prioritise their own interests. Our leaders and planners also claim to follow the same guiding principle, but a few years after they are gone, the truth comes out, and we learn that they miscalculated the terms of friendship and then misled the people to cover their failures. From hoping for foreign military assistance during times of war to going all-in with the US in the War on Terror, to foreign loans or aid with crippling conditions attached, we have made every mistake in the book. Unfortunately, we refuse to learn from history, because too many premiers and premier-makers in this country appear to suffer from delusions of grandeur. 


Published in The Express Tribune, February 6^th, 2020.