‘Aaj Shahzaib Khanzada Kay Sath’ on Monday

KARACHI: The visit to China of Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif is being given huge importance in the context of global balance of power and it is being said that the army chief’s visit is a message to the global powers that Pakistan is not alone in the region, said Shahzaib Khanzada in Geo News programme ‘Aaj Shahzaib Khanzada Kay Sath’ on Monday.
He also said that there have been breakthroughs in many areas between India and USA during the US president’s visit to India. The diction used by the two leaders during their meetings is being considered important, though there are many things which have only symbolic importance.
Questions have been raised over Obama’s support to India’s quest for permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.
Shahzaib Khanzada said that the increasing cooperation in the area of defence between India and USA is a clear indication of a change in India’s foreign policy. The USA has agreed to transfer technology of drone aircraft to India though Pakistan has been desperately demanding the same technology for some time and the entire world knows that the acquisition of drone technology is highly important for Pakistan.
In a different segment of the programme, Shahzaib Khanzada said that the government is moving from crisis to crisis, and an impression about government’s lack of confidence in dealing with those crises is gaining ground. A clue about the effect can be found in Moody’s report which says that the government has not been able to come up with policy solutions to the problems, and one reason for the sorry state of affairs is the prime minister’s failure to fulfill his promise of accountability of his cabinet, and not even a single minister has been held accountable, but, on the contrary, the PML-N is desperate to get its ministers off the hook.
Shahzaib Khanzada said the government is once again grappling with the plea to allow Musharraf to travel overseas. Musharraf’s application requesting relaxation in the ban on his travel abroad has become a challenge for the government. Musharraf wants to go to Saudi Arabia to offer his condolences over the demise of the monarch of Saudi Arabia. In fact, the top leadership of the PML-N is said to have been split into two groups, one saying that the government should allow Musharraf to go abroad while the other is not favouring the said permission.
Former ambassador to the United States Sherry Rehman said that they should not be overwhelmed by the increasing India-USA relations. She said that India-USA relations have warmed up after Narendra Modi’s assuming the office of the prime minister of India. USA is seeing India as a pawn to be used against China as well as a market for its weapons. Sherry Rehman said that Pakistan should expressly react over US decision to supply India with drone technology because this technology can pose a danger to Pakistan.
Pakistan’s not being discussed during the US president’s visit to India can be termed either India’s success or US planning. However, the two countries must have discussed Pakistan through the back channel during which the US must have asked India to extend a hand of friendship to Pakistan.
Defence analyst Wajahat S Khan said that US president’s declaring of India as an important ally in Afghanistan is not a matter of anxiety to Pakistan. Both Pakistan and USA need each other as far as Afghanistan is concerned, and an increasing cooperation among Kabul, Washington and Islamabad in this connection is quite visible. Pakistan has been ignored during President Obama’s visit to India. The timing of Army Chief General Raheel Sharif’s visit to China is strategically very important. On the occasion of India’s republic day, China has sent a message to India saying that China is not an enemy of India nor is India an enemy of China and so India must avoid falling into the Western trap.
In a yet different segment of the programme, Ahmed Bilal Mehboob, executive director of Pildat, said that the prime minister has not been able to hold his cabinet accountable because of his hectic schedule. He said if the prime minister chose not to delegate this task to someone else, this objective will not be achieved.
Muzamil Aslam, an expert in economics, said that the biggest beneficiary of the cut in the interest rates will be the government of Pakistan. The government will be able to save Rs50 billion annually. He said that a cut in the rate of interest always has a positive impact on the economy.