In one of his rare speeches in parliament, Prime Minister Imran Khan addressed a number of issues which are currently of significance to the country. The most significant among these was the question of Pak-US relations, with the prime minister making it clear that while Pakistan is willing to continue its collaboration and alliance with the US for purposes of peace, it will not be doing so for purposes of conflict. The prime minister pointed out that the US has used Pakistan in Afghanistan for many years, and then blamed Pakistan when its own tactics in that country and in the region failed. In this, he is not incorrect. While PM Imran has made it clear that Pakistan will no longer be following US directives on the matter of drone attacks and pointed out how much Pakistan has lost in both financial and other terms by doing so in the past, Pakistan would need to devise its own strategy to manage militancy and terrorism and also to deal with future complexities in Afghanistan, with the threat of a new influx of refugees, and also the possibility of a Taliban takeover of the country, leading to new complications inside Pakistan.
In addition, the PM also spoke about the Ehsaas programme of his government as well as schemes to train the youth and other welfare measures. We certainly hope these succeed as do the efforts of the FBR to meet the ambitious tax collection target, and that the government is able to generate investments from overseas Pakistanis as it hopes. One would agree with the prime minister on the need for electoral reform – though the manner in which they are brought about must be democratic and involve a consolidated consensus on electoral reforms and the manner in which elections are to be conducted. The government and opposition both need to sit together and explore the possibilities of electoral reforms. Just by questioning the sincerity of the government, the opposition is not going to help anybody. On the other hand, if the government keeps insisting that the two major alterations relating to EVMs and granting of voting rights to overseas Pakistan are non-negotiable, then the entire exercise of talks with the opposition may fizzle out even before it starts.
We also hope the question of Pak-US and Pak-China relations can be discussed in Parliament more deeply. It is a welcome – and rare – sign that throughout his speech Prime Minister Imran Khan made it a point not to attack the opposition in any way but to try and include them in the process of building the Pakistan he says he has envisaged for the future. In turn, while many PML-N leaders as well as senior PPP leaders stayed away from the session, it was good to see the opposition listen to the prime minister's speech rather than attempt to interrupt it. We hope this is the mode in which parliament can continue to function in the future. The prime minister needs to make his policies clear in the House that he leads more often and to involve the opposition in discussions on key issues, as he seems to be attempting at this point. There may be some tough times ahead and the PM has done right in pointing out the errors in the foreign policy from the General Musharraf era, but now is the time to set it right. We need to strike a balance between China and the US and once again siding with one at the cost of annoying the other is neither advisable nor feasible.