- Pakistan’s hotchpotch diplomacy
Within days of a civil-military huddle on foreign policy, Shah Mahmood Qureshi visited Afghanistan, Imran Khan held talks with Saudi and Emirati royalty while the COAS was in China.
President Ghani and Foreign Minister Qureshi agreed to work together for peace and stability in the region. Statements of the sort have so many times been followed by mutual recrimination that many have grown skeptical about them. Will it be anything different this time? Are the two countries willing to seriously address unending complaints from both sides regarding terrorists using their territories as staging posts?
Imran Khan was welcomed in both Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi with open arms. The Saudis have reportedly promised “maximum assistance” to Pakistan. What one does not know is the quid pro quo. There was a cooling of relations when Pakistan refused to join the war in Yemen. A UAE minister had even threatened that Pakistan would have to pay a heavy price for this. Among the strong opponents of sending the troops to Yemen was Imran Khan himself. Khan has told his Saudi hosts that Pakistan would like to work for reconciliation in the region. Saudi Arabia has in the past rejected offers of mediation. Has Imran been able to convince the Saudi and Emirati rulers of the utility of talks with Iran?
China has been highly apprehensive of the American opposition to the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and its flagship project CPEC. Beijing had reasons to be disturbed about a statement from PTI government’s Advisor Commerce which was subsequently disowned by him. The COAS has reassured China that despite a change in the government Pakistan remains committed to the construction of the project. Relations with China are perhaps the only foreign policy issue which Pakistan continues to pursue consistently. There is a need for a coherent policy regarding other countries also, particularly those in the neigbourhood.
Imran Khan has written to Prime Minister Modi for an urgent re-initiation of Pak-India dialogue. The government has to understand why every attempt initiated by the previous two governments in the direction invariably failed and to remove the underlying causes at least from our side.