The recent 20th Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) held in Dushanbe marked a watershed event for pro-active collaboration to cope with the evolving situation in the neighbourhood, especially Afghanistan. Not only does the recent Afghan Taliban takeover pose a serious threat to regional stability, development and peace, but the emergence of an alliance between India and the US is also a big challenge that can not be easily overlooked.
As the US has charted out a roadmap to counter the influence of China in the Indian Ocean, China and regional countries like Pakistan have to be cautious about the international gameplay. Quoting the prime minister’s address at the summit, he made it quite clear that Pakistan had already faced horrible repercussions of its frontline partnership with the US in the War on Terror after the 9/11 attacks, and it has learnt a number of lessons from its past mistakes. In such a scenario, it is worth quoting the lines: “If a nation does not learn from its history,then it is condemned to repeat it.”
Exactly,we have to reset our policies and take that policy direction where lies abundant national interests. When Pakistan can benefit from emerging win-win situation, it is absolutely unnecessary to exert wholeheartedly for ends that are inconsistent and incompatible with our national interests.
Even the country is still grappling with the spillover of its frontline partnership with the US. These consequences include increasing sectarianism, tarnished image at the international level and resultant economic losses, growing extremism, a mass exodus of refugee influx and above all, the supply of heavy weapons from abroad through the country that broke the spine of our country very adversely.
As the war has been raging for the past few years, specifically in economic terms, Pakistan needs to wake up to the situation and keep its doors open for opportunities to flow in. Since the focus of the Cold War is the economic empowerment of countries to compete for taking control over economic world order, it needs to explore new avenues for empowering itself through economic and political diplomacy.
For the past many decades, European countries and the US have established a firm monopoly over the economies of developing countries with the help of international financial organisations like the WB,IMF,WTO and the like. These organisations are run by powerful international economic giants to capture free economies so as to make their economic dominance sustainable.
Given the current dynamics, it is hoped that Pakistan, along with SCO members, will play safe and find a way forward to the settlement of Afghan issues not just for larger interest of the region but for the domestic stability, peace and prosperity of Pakistan too.
ABDUL QADEER SEELRO
LARKANA
