Pakistan looking to revisit its foreign policy – Part Two

Pakistan looking to revisit its foreign policy – Part Two

Continued from the previous part …

Since the Kerry Lugar Bill in 2009, the Pak-US relations started to deteriorate gradually. There has been a huge lack of confidence between the US think-tank and Pakistani military establishment since last couple of years.

Although, the wide majority of people in Pakistan wanted the government to shift its foreign policy away from the US as the masses had realized soon after 2001 that working with America is not going to take the country anywhere.

One of the most popular political figure in the country, Imran Khan and some of the other political parties like Jamat e Islami have also been openly urging the government to separate themselves from this so-called war of terror, but all in vein.

When the democracy re-arrived in the country in 2008 through general elections, there was a perception amongst the masses that now the government would follow the policy, which is closer to the hearts of the nation. However, nothing changed at all, if anything,
the civil government tilted more towards the US, knowing that it is not in the best interest of the nation in the long run.

The US announced in 2009 that it will evacuate Afghanistan till 2014 and since then, it has started to empower India in Afghanistan. Ironically, India has constructed a number of new consulates in Afghanistan near the border of Pakistan. Not surprisingly,
there has been more insurgency in Baluchistan since last couple of years. The Interior Minister of Pakistan, Rehman Malik has claimed many times that the intelligence agencies in the country have found a lot of evidence, which show that India is deeply involved
in creating unrest in Pakistan.

There is no doubt about the fact that once the US forces quit Afghanistan, they would want India to have strong footings in Afghanistan and for that matter, US is trying its level best to make India a supreme power of South Asia, which is surely not going
to favour Pakistan because of the historical conflicts between the neighbouring countries.

It is most likely that Taliban will form the government once again in Afghanistan after the departure of the NATO forces. Historically, Pakistan has had brotherly relations with the Taliban and their government in the past has been pro-Pakistan, unlike the
present regime of Hamid Karzai and Northern Alliance, who are more in favour of India.

To be continued …

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Posted by Yasir Hashmi on Dec 14 2011. Filed under Pakistan, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry