‘Setting up of US strategic centre in Pakistan fraught with danger’

By Anil Datta
January 22, 2017

Allowing the US to set up a strategic centre in Pakistan is fraught with danger as, once entrenched here, it will be used against China and Russia and there’s not a thing that Pakistan could do about it. It would just jeopardise our ties with these states.

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This warning was sounded by Dr Talat Wizarat, former professor of International Relations at the University of Karachi, at the Pakistan Institute of International Affairs (PIIA), on Saturday morning.

She was one of the intellectuals and analysts who had assembled to give their prognoses in the global, regional and local fields in politics, economics and strategic affairs for the year 2017.

“There’s talk of such a development going on, but our rulers should be warned that it will be a very unwise move,” said Dr Wizarat. “I look upon the Afghan-Iran-Russia-and Pakistan relations as a very positive development and allowing the US strategic centre will just whittle away the cordiality among the four countries, as Iran and Afghanistan, still being relatively unstable, the US could be induced to any action, thus jeopardizing Pakistan’s international affairs equation.”

Besides, she said, it could help the US realize its agenda of “securing Pakistan’s nuclear weapons”.

Starting off the discussions, former Sindh governor Kamal Azfar said Pakistan never had a foreign policy; it just had foreign relations.

In a tribute to ZA Bhutto’s sagacity, he said that the late prime minister had made two predictions in 1975 when he himself was a minister in Bhutto’s cabinet. The first one was that there would be instability in Afghanistan for decades to come. Secondly, he said that there would be revolution in Iran.

Talking about the much touted globalisation, he said that globalisation without a requisite political infrastructure would be futile. He was of the view that globalisation was on its way out and that the nation-state was re-emerging. He was of the view that good relations with neighbours through appeasement was not the answer to diplomatic issues.

Noted intellectual and former federal minister Javed Jabbar said politics was the supreme element in the life of nations and that it could not be divorced from economics or strategic affairs.

He was of the view that multilateralism was on its way out and, in this context, he cited Brexit and the squabbling within the Arab League.

Lauding the quadrilateral alignment among Russia, Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan, he said that for Pakistan, challenges were as much internal as external. “We need to reform our political institutions and also we must resume back-channel diplomacy as regards our ties with India.”

Senior journalist and analyst Mazhar Abbas was of the view that events pertaining to Indo-Pak ties were being determined by non-state actors. He said that today there were four million aliens in Karachi — excluding Afghan refugees. This, he said, was rending our social milieu asunder, and our domestic woes would make Pakistan an ideal target for the machination for foreign powers.

Dr Khalida Ghous, also a former professor of Internal Relations at the Karachi University, cited the emergence of Rightists in France,

Austria and the Czech Republic which she thought could make the year 2017 rather turbulent for global affairs.

Talking of the frailty of multilateralism, she cited the example of Brexit. She said that the provision of human rights and justice to the masses would assume added importance in the era of globalisation.

Dr Uzma Shujaat cited the dangers the year 2017 could see from terrorism and radicalisation. She said the culture of intolerance that was taking birth in Pakistan and other parts of the world would have to be nipped in the bud right away.

Retired admiral Qadir called for the immediate restoration of democracy and a total end to feudalism to make the country strong to cope with challenges, both internal and external.

Noted journalist Agha Masood was of the view that with the swearing in of Donald Trump as US president, India would be toeing the US line and that could create challenges for Pakistan.

He also cited complications arising from Pakistan’s excessive dependence on international donor institutions like the World Bank and the IMF, the institutions that were, in the most subtle of manner, retarding Pakistan’s development.

It could in due time have serious internal repercussions on Pakistan.

Dr Tanveer Khalid said Donald Trump’s nationalism did not augur well for the world or for Pakistan.

Andrey Fedorov, deputy consul-general of Russia, said that the US was manouvreing to encircle Russia militarily with the aid of former communist states in Eastern Europe which he said could result in an explosive global situation. He said that Russia was strong enough to resist these machinations.

In reply to a questioner who thought that Russia was anti-religion or anti-Islam, he reminded him that the largest mosque in Europe was located in Moscow. Dr Masooma Hasan, chairperson, PIIA, compered the proceedings.

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