Zaheer Ud Din Babar
The demands of the Senior US diplomat Alice Wells are not new for Pakistan. The realityis that the US, for several years, has continually been saying “do more” to Islamabad. The American administration has never tried to understand that the pricePakistanhas had to pay to fulfill American demands .During the cold war era,Pakistan acted as a puppet of the USA:The Russian attack on Afghanistan give America the perfect chance to indirectly severely weaken the USSR. If Pakistan had stayed neutral during the Afghan-Russia war, history would have been quite different.
In international areas, it is quite clear that every country tries its best to pursue their national interests, whichis why we easily observe ,in present time,friends becoming enemies and vice versa.The problem with our Pakistani leadership is that we depend on others and that the political leadership never realizes the fact that our problems will never ever be solved unless we learnto stand on our own feet .Some critics says that blaming America for Pakistan’s problems is not a rational behavior . In international relations, where no person is a friend, it was Pakistan’s fault for expecting more for their actions. In the past, Washington used Pakistan against the Soviet Union. Now it is very much clear that this argument is fake that Moscow wanted to reach warm water ports. Prime Minister Imran Khanhas frequently said that Pakistan, in the future, will never participate in another country’s war, however our past is full of blunders. The fact is that Pakistan cannot establish an independent foreign policy until it can achieve economic stability.
Our government officials continue to fool the common people. They try to create the impression that the government is completely innocent and that the American and other influential counties pressurize Pakistan to do actions which go against the national interest. The time has come for Pakistanto create an independent foreign policy which is based on national interests. It is important that, in the future, Pakistan never participates in another country’s fight. Our leadership must understand, that in international politics we never ever gain respect and honor until we solve our domestic issues.
Some diplomat circles says that Pakistan must never become completely dependent on Beijing. There is no doubt that China is pursuing its own national interests and it will not place Pakistan’s national interests ahead of its own. It is strange that as a nation, we never tried to understand that there is no friendship in national interests. Friend and enemies always change when interests are changed. Actually it is a huge challenge for the country’s leadership to recognize their responsibilities. Apparently, we can say that our political classes never understand thechallenges.
The ground reality is that internal issues reflect foreign policy. If our government and opposition do not join hands to move forward,the various crisis plaguing the country shall never be eliminated. It is not clear how and when will our leadership prove their capabilities to overcome all major problems. Now the time has come that we understand that neither America nor any other country will protect our interests. The only way to protect our interest isthat we understand ourweaknesses and strengths and use them accordingly.
