Ties with neighbours: ‘Karachi’s peace depends on Pak-Afghan relations’

KARACHI:

If we want peace in Karachi, Pakistan will have to step out and make the best out of the improved Pak-Afghan geo-strategic relations. This view was unanimously voiced by members of the Civil Society Consultation at a forum titled ‘Resetting Pak-Afghan Relations: Quest for the Regional Peace and Stability’ at the Marriott hotel on Friday.

Institute of Business Administration social sciences department chairperson Huma Baqai said Pakistan should focus on its relations with its near neighbour Afghanistan instead of ties with Iran, United States and China. “The nexus of terrorism is between Karachi, Quetta and Kabul,” she said. “If Pakistan doesn’t act before this summer, the dividend of improved relations wouldn’t last for long.”

Writer Fehmida Riaz said that there is a need to come to terms with the fact that the Pashtuns of Afghanistan and those of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa are not one, but are brothers who belong to two different homes.

Citing peace dividend as an elusive idea, industrialist Majid Aziz said that Afghan president Ashraf Ghani appears to be a beacon of hope as his policies are devoid of tribal and familial affiliations. According to Peshawar University international relations department professor Ijaz Khattak, it is imperative to accept the reality that Afghanistan has changed, and that porous borders are the key players for sustainable relations.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 25^th, 2015.