- Status quo to continue
As Imran Khan reached Islamabad from Beijing President Trump’s aid Alice Wells had already arrived reportedly for a ‘ties reset’, intriguingly a day ahead of the arrival of an IMF delegation. Meanwhile at a stormy session in the NA the opposition had accused the PTI of a policy of appeasement towards the extremist elements that rioted unchecked all over Punjab for three days.
Imran Khan took the NSC into confidence over the talks with the Chinese leadership as well as with the Russian Prime Minister. National security issues like threats from the extremists, challenges to the economy and foreign relations came up for discussion.
The way the PTI government let the TLP supporters torture common people, burn private vehicles and public transport for three consecutive days amounts to surrendering to the mobs. Equally detrimental for national security is the kid-glove treatment being meted out to the TLP leadership which had extended threats to the lives of the Supreme Court judges, spread disaffection in army ranks and incited people to challenge the writ of the state.
Those who matter need to realise why their words about there being no terrorist havens in the country lack credibility and even some of Pakistan’s closest allies believe that a number of terrorist networks still operate from the country and are dissatisfied with measures taken so far to block terrorist financing and money laundering. External pressures on Pakistan will continue to mount if there is no change in policy. International financial institutions like the IMF and policy making bodies like the FATF are likely to be used to penalise Pakistan. It needs to be noted that the latest report by the Asia Pacific Group (APG) maintained that the measures taken so far by the PTI government to come out of the grey list were less than satisfactory.
The prime minister was supposed to address the nation after the NSC meeting. That this did not take place indicates that he had nothing new to tell the nation about the crucial challenges faced currently by Pakistan. It appears that despite their inadequacy the present policies will continue to be pursued irrespective of their consequences.
