No strategic depth in Afghanistan: IP gas pipeline project government's top priority: Sartaj

Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Wednesday the completion of Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline project was Pakistan's top priority and efforts were being made that international sanctions on Iran did not hit the mega project.
Briefing the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, chaired by Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel, the Adviser said Pakistan believed that US sanctions did not apply on government-to-government agreements and sanctions on Iran were only on import of oil and not the natural gas.
Aziz said he had also sought opinion from US Secretary of State John Kerry in that regard and "what he [Kerry] had conveyed to us, is very week with regard to our perspective regarding the IP project".
"The IP gas pipeline project is our priority and we are committed to complete it," he said, adding that talks are also under way with the Iranian government for expanding counter-trade, which does not come under US sanctions.
To various questions by the committee members, Aziz said that there was annoyance from the Iranian side as they believe that Pakistan was not showing sensitivity with regard to expanding bilateral trade and pursuing the gas pipeline project.
In his policy statement on Strategic Vision of Pakistan's Foreign Policy to the panel, he said the first important foreign policy objective was to safeguard Pakistan's security and eliminate the growing culture of extremism, intolerance and violence from the society through concerted political and military strategies and a policy of non-interference in the affairs of other countries.
Henceforth, top priority will be accorded to country's own security rather than the agendas and priorities of other countries, he said, adding the second important objective is to make economic revival and sustained development, the centre piece of our foreign policy.
He said the third important priority is of a peaceful neighbourhood automatically flows from these two objectives, adding the Prime Minister's slogan of "peace for development" means building a peaceful external environment so that core national objectives of economic development could be robustly advanced.
He said that a fourth pillar of the vision was to turn Pakistan's strategic geographical location from a liability into an asset through trade, transport and energy connectivity with China, Central Asia and West Asia.
"The government is fully aware of the complex and difficult external environment in which these policy objectives and priorities have to be pursued but if there is clear vision, backed by strong political will, Pakistan can achieve Qauid's dictum of "peace within and peace without" in a relatively short period of time", he said.
Highlighting the achievements in the past one year, he referred to the "reinforcing strategic partnership with China", saying our time-tested and all-weather relationship with China has been transformed into a strong strategic partnership, with focus on trade, investment, energy infrastructure and connectivity.
Counter-terrorism co-operation continues to strengthen, while Pakistan's support to China's core interests of Tibet and Taiwan remains unwavering, he said, adding mutual collaboration in regional forums like SCO, CICA and Heart of Asia has stepped up.
A monumental achievement is the initiation of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which is considered to be a "game-changer" in terms of trade, investment, connectivity and regional economic integration, he said, adding China is poised to offer investments and loans to the tune of $35 billion for energy and other infrastructure projects over the next 8-10 years.
About Afghanistan, he said Pakistan's Afghan policy was aimed at building a friendly and good-neighbourly relationship, in which flawed concepts of the past like "strategic depth" have no place. He said the key principles include mutual respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity, non-interference and no favourites.
"Pakistan's constructive engagement has helped reduce trust deficit," he said, adding Pakistan's contribution to the process of stabilisation in Afghanistan is being acknowledged regionally and internationally.
About ties with India, he said it was manifestly clear that South Asia cannot have durable peace and stability unless Pakistan and India make peace. "This requires building a qualitatively new environment in which mutual concerns are addressed in a credible way and efforts made to promote an agenda of peace and development," he said, adding it is in this perspective the Prime Minister has stressed the main dynamics in South Asia should be co-operation, not confrontation.
"Mr Narendra Modi is the choice of the Indian electorate, and we have already started our interaction with the new government," he said, adding Pakistan will continue to seek sustained and result-oriented dialogue, meaningful progress towards resolution of outstanding issues, including Kashmir, and enhanced co-operation on economic issues. He said two foreign secretaries will be meeting shortly to evolve a roadmap for such a dialogue.
About ties with the US, he said the strategic relationship with the US was being reoriented on the basis of mutual interest and mutual trust, adding the effort is to transform the substantive content of the relationship, and to change the narrative.
About ties with EU, he said the intensive engagement with EU countries - both bilaterally and in the European Union framework - has produced significant results. Trade, investment and co-operation in social sectors are on the upswing, while counter-terrorism co-operation and security ties continue to strengthen. A ministerial level strategic dialogue was held in March 2014 and the next EU-Pakistan summit is planned before the end of this year, he added.
He also highlighted Pakistan's constructive engagements with the Muslim world, including Saudi-Arabia, Iran Turkey and other Islamic countries, adding that solidarity with the Muslim World has always been a central tenet of Pakistan's foreign policy.
The adviser said Pakistan's nuclear deterrence has served to maintain peace in the region and our diplomats have effectively defended Pakistan's position on strategic issues at multilateral fora.
Committee member Farhatullah Babar, however, opined that at current two foreign offices were operating - one the official and the second led by Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.
He also questioned whether the unprecedented May 23 march of the Sikhs community on Parliament just two days ahead of PM Sharif's India visit was planned by those opposed to India-Pakistan normalisation. He said an inquiry should be conducted into the incident to ascertain the facts.