ISLAMABAD: Former federal minister Khurram Dastgir Khan on Wednesday said the United States’ withdrawal from its traditional global role is one of the most significant shifts in the international order, warning that the longstanding assurance of freedom of navigation, which is vital to global maritime trade, is under threat.

He was speaking at a session, titled: Shifting Geopolitics: Risks, Resilience and Prosperity on the third day of the 29th Sustainable Development Conference, organised by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).

“Today it is the Strait of Hormuz; tomorrow it could be the Bab el-Mandeb, followed by the Suez or even the Panama Canal,” the former minister said.

He said a change in US leadership could bring a shift in Washington’s approach towards Islamabad, stressing the need for Pakistan to prioritise energy diversification and strengthen its engagement along its western borders.

Nafisa Shah stresses need for energy federalism, equity and democracy

Chairman of the Pakistan Regional Economic Forum (PREF) Haroon Sharif said first and foremost, the ability of one country to use violence to control other nations had changed. Secondly, the persistent global economic uncertainty, compounded by escalating macroeconomic risk had also changed the investment climate all over the world.

He said if there was a major intervention in the ongoing US-Iran conflict, it would lead to even higher risk premiums for trade, and in particular for exports for Pakistan.

Pakistan’s former ambassador to Iran Riffat Masood said the region had endured conflicts for generations and had developed its own capacity to navigate them, with Iran being a case in point.

Turning to Pakistan’s regional outlook, she said the country had neglected its borders, particularly along its western frontiers with Iran and Afghanistan.

Retired Maj Gen Dr Ehsan Mehmood Khan said the global order had always been in transition. He said war generates a war economy, which has long been a foundation for the politics and political economy of major powers around the world.

SDPI Executive Director Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri unpacked the evolving geopolitical landscape in the wake of the US-Israel-Iran war, accentuating Pakistan’s precarious position amid the conflict and the urgent need to navigate emerging challenges with strategic foresight and resilience.

Parliamentarians for renewable energy

Parliamentarians, policymakers and development professionals have called on the federal and provincial governments to accelerate the transition towards utility-scale renewable energy by strengthening intergovernmental coordination, addressing policy inconsistencies and closing implementation gaps in the power sector.

At a plenary session titled, ‘Utility-Scale Renewable Energy: Federal Policy, Provincial Priorities and Implementation Gaps’, participants stressed the need to involve provincial governments in energy planning and decision-making, ensure equitable distribution of resources and create an enabling environment for investment in renewable energy.

They also stressed that the country’s energy challenges could not be addressed through centralised policymaking alone, calling for greater parliamentary oversight, effective implementation of existing policies and stronger provincial institutions to harness the potential of solar, wind, hydropower and other renewable sources.

MNA Dr Nafisa Shah said the disconnect between federal policymakers, provincial governments and elected representatives was among the major reasons behind the country’s energy problems.

“These are two stories of Pakistan: one is of energy crisis, and one is of renewable energy success,” she said, adding that expensive power purchase agreements, take-or-pay contracts and dollar indexation had contributed to the crisis.

She warned that new federal energy initiatives could create additional stranded costs for consumers and stressed the need for energy federalism, equity and democracy.

MNA Riaz Fatyana said Pakistan had an installed electricity generation capacity of around 50,000 megawatts, with renewable energy accounting for approximately 20pc. He said the country could increase this share to 30pc by 2030 if the existing 2019 renewable energy policy remained in place.

He called for restoration of the solar net-metering system, saying its discontinuation had created unrest among consumers who had invested in solar installations.

MNA Barrister Danyal Chaudhry emphasised that Pakistan’s energy transition is an “economic necessity, a strategic imperative, and an opportunity to redefine our national future”.

He highlighted that citizens have embraced rooftop solar out of resilience, pushing net metering capacity significantly higher. He urged policymakers to prioritise utility-scale solar projects and reform legislative frameworks, adding that “we cannot build this energy future of 250 million people without having a policy and without working on it”.

Published in Dawn, November 5th, 2026