It seems that our foreign policy is only made for the US. We take dictation from the US and utilise all our energies to fulfil its aims. Despite this, our foreign overlord is not happy with us and is forever demanding of us to ‘do more’. We are jeopardising our relations with other countries as we try to keep our relationship with the US on track. The need of the hour is that we should work for better relationships with other countries of the world. Not only will this mitigate our international isolation but also improve our trade ties. We are well behind our neighbouring countries when it comes to exports. Recently, India has captured the Afghan market. It is huge loss for our trade. Similarly, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka have carved a great niche for themselves in world markets. We should follow in the footsteps of these countries. We should conduct trade with ASEAN and EU to improve our exports. We should also look to organisation like the SCO and establish relations with Central Asian states as that will be very beneficial for us. I appeal to the concerned authorities and foreign policy makers to do their due job in this regard. We should strengthen ourselves by depending on trade, not US aid.
TARIQ HUSAIN KHAN
Karachi
