LAHORE: Former foreign minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri has said internal unity is a must if Pakistan has to make meaningful progress in the foreign policy.

“In the current state of disunity and lack of direction in Pakistan, no country, friend or foe, knows how or who to deal with in Pakistan. This is a very dangerous situation and cannot be allowed to continue. It is the primary duty of all the stakeholders in Pakistan to bring this to an end,” Mr Kasuri said at a ceremony here on Saturday.

Mr Kasuri, who was given a lifetime achievement award by the Government College University for his contributions in international relations and diplomacy, called for redressing some of Pakistan’s weaknesses, particularly in ensuring that there was continuation of policies to ensure economic development. “There is also a need for basic agreement between major stakeholders, so that these policies could continue despite change in governments. This could not take place with so much internal disunity,” he said.

He further said former Indian ambassador S K Lambah, who had been back-channel negotiator between Pakistan and India during Manmohan Singh’s tenure as premier, in his book ‘In Pursuit of Peace’ had confirmed, what he (Mr Kasuri) had said in his book

‘Neither a Hawk nor a Dove’, that Pakistan and India had reached an agreement to resolve all outstanding issues, including Jammu and Kashmir.

Mr Kasuri regretted that now the relationship between the two countries had become exceedingly tense, but added that Indian premier Modi could not rule India forever.

“Even at the best of times, Modi was able to secure about 37 per cent of the total votes, with an overwhelming majority voting for the parties which are by and large opposed to the current policies of the BJP government on Muslims, Kashmirs and Pakistan,” he said and added there was no guarantee that Modi would change these policies, either before or after elections.

Published in Dawn, March 19th, 2023