Secretary Ministry of Defence Production Lieutenant General Syed Mohammad Owais (Retd) Friday said that stability in Afghanistan is in best interest of Pakistan, as it is vital for the success of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project. In his key-note address at the concluding session of a two-day conference on 'Emerging geostrategic landscape in South-West Asia and the Asia Pacific,' he said that Afghanistan is the focal point of the geostrategic environment of the region, for which stability there is a must.
For Pakistan, he said that peace and stability in Afghanistan is in its best interest as the success of economic corridor project of China and Pakistan is greatly dependent on the peace and stability in Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan would have to pursue a balanced foreign policy for protecting its strategic interests, adding Pakistan needs a neutral position in contemporary international and regional strategic environment in order to tackle any aggression from its adversary and have sustained development.
Lieutenant General Owais (Retd) pointed out that global environment is complex and unpredictable, adding foreign policy should be geared to keeping Pakistan relevant to the international community for region's peace. According to him, the Indo-US strategic alliance in the region has driven Pakistan to an arms race both conventional and unconventional. He said that Pakistan would continue facing pressure from India that would try to push Pakistan into an arms race, exploit its internal vulnerabilities, and negatively project Pakistan's image on the world stage.
"Indo-US strategic alliance has emboldened India to continue coercing Pakistan towards a compliance mode," he maintained. Additionally, he cautioned that India's engagement with Afghanistan was for the sake of keeping it away from Pakistan. He suggested that Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan would have to reconfigure their domestic and foreign policies to ensure peace and stability in the region. About the US, he said that Pakistan would have to find common grounds to strengthen their bilateral relations despite certain divergences.
Registrar Air University Air Commodore Ghulam Mujadid (Retd), while discussing role of India in the region and implications for Pakistan, also emphasised on closer co-operation between Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan to deal with India's designs. Former Foreign Secretary Akram Zaki observed that in view of the enormity of threat, Pakistan should normalise ties with Afghanistan and continue to further improve relations with Iran. This strategy, he said would help offset the designs of the "neighbour" who "wanted to destabilise the region".
He said there could be "no shortcuts" for dealing with India except for being patient and developing the country. According to him, the real threat to South Asia was the alliance between the "regional hegemon" and the "global hegemon," adding that there was now the new hegemony, the pivot or rebalancing South Asia.
He also criticised the West's "dual standard" on definition of terrorism, saying "they are creating terrorists and they are denying them". He opined that the unrest in Afghanistan was deliberate, adding Afghanistan is regarded as "the heart of South Asia" and if there is peace in that country, there will be peace in the entire region. Referring to Indian allegations of terrorism, he said that the Indian government is pointing at the non-state actors for their alleged involvement in terrorism inside India, while Pakistan has provided proofs of the Indian state institution - the RAW- involvement in terrorism in Balochistan, Karachi and Fata. Dr Azmat Hayat Khan, who is associated with University of Peshawar's Area Study Center, said that Iran's role was central to peace in the increasingly volatile Middle East.
"As far our relation with Saudi Arabia is concerned, our foreign policy should not be based on ethnic and religious emotions, we should be very careful" he emphasised, adding funding of the religious extremist groups was a serious threat to the country's national security. He stated that an improved relation with Iran will not only benefit Pakistan in economic terms but it would also help reduce Indian influence in Afghanistan as well as its involvement in terrorism inside Pakistan.
The two-day conference analysed the rapidly changing geo-political landscape of the region and associated realignments. It further proposed recommendations for mitigating their impact on Pakistan. The changes that were considered to be significant for the region were the advancing nuclearization of South Asia, US' Asia pivot, India's aggressive posture, China's expanding soft power, Iran's nuclear deal with the West and the CPEC.