The participants of second diplomatic roundtable by the Lahore Center for Peace Research (LCPR) have stressed upon sorting out 'perception problems' between the US and Pakistan through existing mutual dialogue channels instead of media or public diplomacy. There is no alternative to diplomatic engagement. "Both the US and Pakistan need each other because of their respective geopolitical interests," they added.
Those who spoke on the occasion included Pakistan's former foreign minister Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri, Shahryar Khan, Iqbal Riza, Shamshad Ahmad Khan, Azmat Hassan, Javid Husain, Shaukat Umar, Shahid Malik, Rifat Iqbal, Shahid Najam and Dr Sophia Imran.
They said the US in recent years has been targeting Pakistan with military incursions and drone attacks in our tribal areas. It is using Pakistan as a convenient scapegoat for its own setbacks in Afghanistan. This had an alarmingly adverse impact on Pakistan's psyche which is already perturbed by America's indifference to its legitimate security concerns and sensitivities. Coercive and sometime accusatory and slanderous approach towards Pakistan and its armed forces and security agencies is counterproductive.
The former diplomats said both the countries must make a genuine effort to re-fix their troubled relationship and to remove each other's concerns. Diplomacy from both sides should be aimed not only at averting conflicts but also to reinforce mutuality in their relationship by infusing in it a greater political, economic and strategic content.
In the context of Afghanistan, they said it is also important that the regional countries do not use the territory of Afghanistan for destabilizing activities in third countries. Regional rivalries can easily stoke the fires of conflict within Afghanistan as well as in the region. It is necessary to control and contain these regional rivalries. To secure a stable Afghanistan, there is a need for sharp focus on Afghanistan's economic and social development, including trans-regional development.
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