PAKISTAN’s foreign policy is now at the cross-roads. We are facing extreme types of threats and opportunities. The basic objective of a country’ foreign policy should be economic development. We have a big opportunity in the form of the China-Pakistan Economic Cooperation (CPEC). This can change the fate of our economy. So we need a foreign policy that can help us take its full economic advantages. For this, we must understand the current aspirations of the Chinese foreign policy and we will have to respond to it accordingly. China has followed a policy of non-interference during last decades and, currently, it doesn’t have any aggressive designs against any nation.

India is China’s hostile neighbour but the latter has ignored the former’s hostility for sake of its economic benefits. Now we must frame a foreign policy that does not contradict the Chinese objective without losing our own objectives. As CPEC is not the final opportunity for us and we have many other economic opportunities, we must keep our eyes open while formulating our foreign policy.

Afghanistan is under Indian influence. The US is giving space to India in Afghanistan. It is the US strategy to strengthen India against the emerging military and economic power of China.

This Indo-Afghan nexus, backed by the US, is a threat to Pakistan. Currently, India has the same type of relations with the US as it had with Russia during the cold war. We must keep an eye on changes in the region and respond to the situation sensibly. But the present developments show that we are not very vigilant, and the situation is worsening.

Tariq Mahmood Khan

Faisalabad

Published in Dawn, March 24th, 2018