This is apropos a Business Recorder editorial "Foreign policy debacle" carried by the newspaper yesterday. The newspaper has concluded its argument as stating that "Let the government learn from this debacle not to rush in where angels fear to tread and formulate its foreign policy in the light of its economic vulnerabilities and desire to stay out of conflicts that divide and wrack the Muslim world at present."

I, however, differ to what the newspaper has argued. Prime minister Imran Khan has clearly stated that his government had decided to stay away from the Kuala Lumpur summit in the 'best national interest.. it is, therefore, no foreign policy debacle. Any foreign policy that does not operate under the standard of national interest cannot be described as successful foreign policy. We are required to consider where our country was when the Red Army invaded our next-door neighbour Afghanistan in 1979. We're also required to consider where Pakistan is today.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019