Pakistan must use new strategic space: Sayed

Senator lauds Pakistan Navy’s maritime diplomacy as an example of Pakistan’s soft power outreach

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan today has a “strategic space” due to various new geo-political developments and this space must be utilized to promote “maritime diplomacy” – already successfully practiced by the Pakistan Navy through the 45-nation AMAN 2021 exercise that opened on Feb 13.  

“This strategic space is created due to the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project; Pakistan’s pivotal role in Afghanistan peace process, India’s growing problems due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s shortsighted policies and a less interventionist, more inward-looking US under President Biden,” said Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed on Sunday.

Sayed, who is also chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, was delivering the keynote address at the International Maritime Conference organized by the National Institute of Maritime Affairs (Nima) as part of the AMAN exercise.

The senator also proposed a 3-point plan of policy doables to promote maritime diplomacy.

First, the government must initiate and implement a comprehensive maritime commercial policy, with the continental shelf in the Indian Ocean as the core, and Pakistan Navy in the lead role.

Second, Pakistan should be the bridge between Carec, the 11-country cooperation forum for the Central Asian countries, and RCEP, the 15-country free trade agreement in Southeast Asia.

Third, Pakistan needs to take a regional initiative on related issues of climate change and cultural tourism, which can provide a basis for regional cooperation on areas of common interest.

According to the senator, China is a member of both Carec and RCEP, while India is a member of neither. “That will open up huge economic opportunities,” he said.

While presenting his 3-point plan, he said Pakistan is among the 5 countries most vulnerable to the vagaries of climate change, with South Asia’s 500 million people living along the coastline facing the challenge of global warming.

On cultural tourism, he referred to the opening of the Kartarpur Corridor for the Sikh community, the Buddhist historic sites in Taxila and Takhtbai as well as Hindu holy sites.

Sayed lauded the Pakistan Navy’s maritime diplomacy as an example of Pakistan’s soft power outreach and ability to bring 45 diverse countries and navies on a common platform of peace in the Indian Ocean.

He quoted senior former Indian ambassador MK Bhadhrakumar who has termed AMAN 2021 “a spectacular display of Pakistan’s uniqueness as a regional power” while also criticizing India for “a failed Pakistan policy”.

The senator also appreciated the Pakistan Navy’s positive regional role in peacetime, particularly anti-piracy operations and humanitarian help to victims of conflicts and natural disasters in the Indian Ocean region.

He also discussed the idea about resurgence of the “Asian Century” with an inexorable shift in the global balance of economic and political power from the West to the East.  Sayed also analyzed two contrasting visions for the future of Asia.

“There is China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), of which the CPEC is a flagship, which focuses on connectivity and cooperation, with over 100 countries signed on to BRI.

“Conversely, there is talk of a New Cold War through policies that seek containment of China, led by the Quad of four countries – the United States, India, Japan and Australia,” he added.

Talking of Pakistan’s foreign relations, he referred to Quaid-e-Azam’s vision of “peace within and peace without”; hence, Pakistan’s expanding role in regional connectivity.

Other speakers in the session included naval leaders from Indonesia and Nigeria, as well as Professor Huma Baqai, an academic. There was an animated question-answer session at the end of the seminar.