The Margalla Dialogue
President Dr Arif Alvi exhibited statesmanship as he urged the need to shun destructive security paradigms and work for a world order based on rules, morality and ethics. Addressing the Margalla Dialogue-22 in Islamabad, he took no qualms in saying that had the trillions spent by the US in its obsession to invade Iraq and Afghanistan been diverted towards socio-economic development, the world would have been a better place today. While stressing on conflict resolution in the developing countries, he observed that Pakistan has been trying to come to solutions on all its fronts, but regretted that India has not been able to strike a chord of friendship and cooperation with it. He rightly coined that Delhi nurses a policy of ‘no peace’ with Pakistan.
True and receptive to the theme of the Dialogue, the president unequivocally opposed the idea of giving veto powers to emerging nations, and at the same time was also irked as to why some of the victor powers are in receipt of such draconian powers — an aspect that had made the world see more wars and mayhem. He underscored a philosophy of peace and accommodation, and quoted the legendary Rumi to make a point. He didn’t miss out on technology, and pointed out the trauma of fake news and hybrid warfare, equating how developing states like Pakistan are confronted with a faceless enemy.
The Margalla Dialogue 2022 edition was full of innovative approaches to desired policy prescriptions. As chaos and waywardness grip the world at large in the aftermath of the pandemic and an ensuing recession, the two-day proceedings under the aegis of Pakistan’s premier think tank, IPRI, came out with an insight on the developing world’s responses in all objectivity. The theme was ‘Navigating Great Power Competition — A Developing World Perspective’. It deliberated on the international order, economic crunch, climate change, influence of technology, and as to what will be the approach of Pakistan as it turns 100. Scholars, public figures, foreign dignitaries and policymakers from home and abroad huddled to make it a decisive moment of intellectualism.
“The ruling ideas of each age have been the ideas of its ruling class.” —Karl Marx
Published in The Express Tribune, November 19th, 2022.
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