Critical essays: Foreign policy victim of confusion, say experts
Oppose Pakistan’s focus on India; emphasise the need for eschewing the Cold War spirit.
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan’s foreign policy has been drifting over the years in the absence of a political direction and has mostly been reactive to circumstances partly of its own making often resulting from the confusion between ideological and pragmatic approaches. A collection of critical essays on foreign policy points to the need for formulating a realistic approach to foreign relations governed by national interests but guided by the pursuit of peace and progress in the region.
Scholars and experts on foreign policy have generally opposed Pakistan’s obsessive focus on India and emphasized the need for eschewing the Cold War spirit from the national outlook which has hindered economic progress particularly in the area of foreign trade. The writers have particularly mentioned the failure to engage with the Soviet Union in the earlier years and over reliance on the United States in the matter of defence alliances which not only distorted foreign policy approaches but made the country a part of the Cold War. This anti Soviet tilt ultimately dragged Pakistan into the Afghan imbroglio from which the country is now struggling to extricate itself from.
Rasul Bakhsh Rais in his essay on security challenges for Pakistan has warned against the Taliban threat to the country which is transnational but has strong regional roots. It is an existential threat to the state and Pakistan needs to learn from the example of Afghanistan and Somalia, a local sampling of which one saw in Swat and Malakand. Salma Malik has dwelt at length on the growth of radicalisation in the country and the dangers it poses to the state. It was time the decision makers reckoned where they would steer the country, towards rationalism or emotionalism?
Savita Pande, an Indian analyst has discussed Pakistan’s policy concerns in relation to India, in particular with reference to its US and China policy which are both India-centric. Even Pakistan’s reasons for maintaining links with the Taliban are related to the Indian threat. However she notes Pakistan has withstood western pressure against Iran and has been successful in reaping economic benefits from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries.
Dr Maqsudul Hasan Nuri, in his essay on the impact of Middle East on Pakistan’s foreign policy, has examined the attendant costs Pakistan has had to pay for the Gulf countries’ economic largesse in terms of their intrusive role in Pakistan’s domestic politics. He notes the lack of reciprocity from the Arabs on issues like Kashmir while Pakistan has supported Muslim causes at the cost of its own national interest. “There is a need to look more towards the east and learn from the Chinese example of good neighbourly relations and concentration of policies on national development.”
Noman Sattar in his essay on President Obama’s AfPak strategy thinks that though Pakistan is part of the solution, it does not hold the key. In fact the AfPak is a strategy of engagement, rather than withdrawal. The US exit strategy remains uncertain and confused and there is no possibility of face saving that the US wants. Sattar thinks in this situation Pakistan’s policy remains tightrope walking and its security under strain so along as NATO troops remain in Afghanistan. Essays by Ishrat Abbasi and Dr Hussain Shaheed Sohrawardy (of Peshawar University) deal with US-India alignment and Pak-US relations during the war on terror.
The book has been published by the department of international relations of the Peshawar University and the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2011.
Pakistan’s foreign policy has been drifting over the years in the absence of a political direction and has mostly been reactive to circumstances partly of its own making often resulting from the confusion between ideological and pragmatic approaches. A collection of critical essays on foreign policy points to the need for formulating a realistic approach to foreign relations governed by national interests but guided by the pursuit of peace and progress in the region.
Scholars and experts on foreign policy have generally opposed Pakistan’s obsessive focus on India and emphasized the need for eschewing the Cold War spirit from the national outlook which has hindered economic progress particularly in the area of foreign trade. The writers have particularly mentioned the failure to engage with the Soviet Union in the earlier years and over reliance on the United States in the matter of defence alliances which not only distorted foreign policy approaches but made the country a part of the Cold War. This anti Soviet tilt ultimately dragged Pakistan into the Afghan imbroglio from which the country is now struggling to extricate itself from.
Rasul Bakhsh Rais in his essay on security challenges for Pakistan has warned against the Taliban threat to the country which is transnational but has strong regional roots. It is an existential threat to the state and Pakistan needs to learn from the example of Afghanistan and Somalia, a local sampling of which one saw in Swat and Malakand. Salma Malik has dwelt at length on the growth of radicalisation in the country and the dangers it poses to the state. It was time the decision makers reckoned where they would steer the country, towards rationalism or emotionalism?
Savita Pande, an Indian analyst has discussed Pakistan’s policy concerns in relation to India, in particular with reference to its US and China policy which are both India-centric. Even Pakistan’s reasons for maintaining links with the Taliban are related to the Indian threat. However she notes Pakistan has withstood western pressure against Iran and has been successful in reaping economic benefits from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf countries.
Dr Maqsudul Hasan Nuri, in his essay on the impact of Middle East on Pakistan’s foreign policy, has examined the attendant costs Pakistan has had to pay for the Gulf countries’ economic largesse in terms of their intrusive role in Pakistan’s domestic politics. He notes the lack of reciprocity from the Arabs on issues like Kashmir while Pakistan has supported Muslim causes at the cost of its own national interest. “There is a need to look more towards the east and learn from the Chinese example of good neighbourly relations and concentration of policies on national development.”
Noman Sattar in his essay on President Obama’s AfPak strategy thinks that though Pakistan is part of the solution, it does not hold the key. In fact the AfPak is a strategy of engagement, rather than withdrawal. The US exit strategy remains uncertain and confused and there is no possibility of face saving that the US wants. Sattar thinks in this situation Pakistan’s policy remains tightrope walking and its security under strain so along as NATO troops remain in Afghanistan. Essays by Ishrat Abbasi and Dr Hussain Shaheed Sohrawardy (of Peshawar University) deal with US-India alignment and Pak-US relations during the war on terror.
The book has been published by the department of international relations of the Peshawar University and the Hanns Seidel Foundation, Islamabad.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 11th, 2011.