LAHORE: Speakers at a meeting of Shura-e-Hamdard said that Pakistan needs foreign policy that protects its economic interests.

They were speaking at a meeting of Shura-e-Hamdard on ‘Increasing political trends and Pakistan’s foreign policy’ held here at the Hamdard Centre.

The speakers maintained the founder of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah laid down the foundation of Pakistan’s foreign policy, according to which the country’s foreign policy should be independent and non-aligned.

They said the main objective of a country’s foreign policy was to safeguard its national interests at the global level and Pakistan needs to formulate its foreign policy according to its own interests.

“Political parties, army, judiciary and other state institutions must come on same page, to formulate such a strategy, which led the country to prosperity and complete sovereignty,” they said.

Justice Nasira Javed Iqbal (Retd) chaired the meeting addressed by Shamshad Ahmad Khan, Qayyum Nizami, Javed Younas Opal, Umer Zaheer Mir, Dr A R Chaudhry, Dr Imran Murtaza, Adeeb Javadani, Dr Amjad Ali Khan, Dr Shaifque Jallandari, Usman Ghani and others.

The speakers said the country needs a stable political system and strong economy with independent foreign policy so that Pakistan can get due place in the comity of nations.

On the other hand, former diplomat Ali Sarwar Naqvi said the relations of all countries are based on national interests. Islamabad and Washington have some differences on certain issues. It is good that ties between the two countries are improving, he added.

Another former ambassador Mushtaq Mehr said, “We need to make serious efforts to improve our ties with all nations.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022