ISLAMABAD: Army Chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa on Wednesday said that Pakistan wanted to avoid a zero-sum game.

Speaking to Chief of General Staff of Russian Armed Forces Gen Valery Vasilevich Gerasimov, on the second day of his visit to Russia, Gen Bajwa said: “Pakistan wants to get out of the zero-sum dynamics of Cold War era that is still prevalent in South Asia.”

International relations are considered to be a zero-sum game and are believed to be about being ‘either with or against’ one or the other.

Gen Bajwa is on his maiden visit to Moscow.

“We have no hostile designs towards any country and will keep on working towards a cooperative regional framework based on sovereign equality and mutual progress through connectivity,” the army chief said.

Gen Gerasimov said Russia supported Pakistan’s efforts towards reconciliation and peace in Afghanistan and it was willing to play a role towards that end.

He noted that Pakistan welcomed any initiative which could bring peace and stability to Afghanistan and the whole region would benefit from it.

Published in Dawn, April 26th, 2018