LAHORE: Although Pakistan has China as a friend, today the country cannot even rely on friendly nations such as Saudi Arabia and Turkey to support its point of view at international forums, stated a press release.

These thoughts were shared by speakers during 59th Conference of Pakistan Visionary Forum held at Tech Society Club on the topic ‘Pakistan’s internal and external policy challenges’ on Sunday.

Former foreign secretary Shamshad Ahmed Khan said: “Now wars are not fought through tanks and weapons, but through effective diplomacy and vision.”

Unfortunately, Pakistan had lost because of incapable and corrupt personalities. Success of foreign policy of a country depended on its political stability, solidarity, territorial integrity and socio-economic independence. He said Afghan war was not started by Pakistan, but it was compelled to be a part of it.

Former law minister Senator S.M. Zafar said that after a shift in American policy, Pakistan was going to depend on China for its financial needs, but should avoid rivalry with the US. After Trump’s warning, US drones could hit any Pakistani area such as Quetta or Raiwind in the future for which the army and government should be ready.

He appreciated Pakistan’s foreign policies in the past which were as per situational requirements. However, “we should learn from our bad experiments”.

Other speakers included Dr Muhammad Sadiq, Jameel Gishkori, Dr Hasibullah, former Intelligence Bureau director general Maj Shabbir Ahmed, former International Monetary Fund adviser Khalid Mahmood Saleem, Mahmudur Rehman Chughtai, Muhammad Azeem, Zubair Sheikh, Abdul Majeed Khan, Salman Abid, former Punjab auditor general Jameel Bhatti, Prof Dr Atiya Syed, Chaudhry Yaqoob, Ikram Koshal, Prof Mashkoor Ahmed and Maj Khalid Nasr.

Published in Dawn, September 18th, 2017