Sethi sees visible change in Pak foreign policy

LAHORE: Senior analyst Najam Sethi on Saturday said there was a change in the foreign policy of Pakistan and his prediction about Afghanistan made in November last year had also come true.
Afghan President Ashraf Ghani has brought a visible change in the policy towards India and Pakistan as Hamid Karzai was pro-India, while Ghani is of the opinion that problems cannot be resolved without Pakistan, said Sethi in Geo News programme ‘Aapas ki Baat’.
Sethi said during a detailed meeting with Ghani, he had noticed that the Afghan President was thinking whether he could trust Pakistan’s military establishment which shared the similar feelings. However, both sides agreed to cooperate at the first given opportunity, he added.
According to Sethi, things can move forward, if elements like the Haqqani network and Mullah Umar are brought to the negotiating table and talks over handing over the people like Mullah Fazlullah to Pakistan are held.
The issue is whether the Afghan Taliban would be ready for dialogue on Pakistan’s insistence, which has an agreement with Afghanistan that either it makes them to hold talks or takes action against them. Gen Raheel Sharif has given a clear message to the Afghan Taliban about holding dialogue with Kabul; otherwise, they would not get any protection in the future. On the other hand, Kabul is ready to allow them rule the southern provinces.
Sethi said the military establishment had given three to four months to Afghanistan and the US for the purpose and the month of March was very important during which there must be some progress. China too, he said, had played and important role in the developments because of its interests in the region.
He said Ghani had visited Beijing before coming to Islamabad, while the Afghan Taliban leadership had returned from China after a secret trip just before that. Later, the Afghan Taliban visited China again, showing there could be progress in dialogue with the Chinese help too, he added.
According to Sethi, another large-scale attack by the Taliban will damage the entire process, resulting in pressure on Pakistan. And there will be pressure on the country, even if there is no attack and no progress during March / April, as Pakistan would be asked to launch military operation against the Taliban - for which there has been no preparation - whose reaction is going to quite different.
Sethi said Pakistan and India talked about peace and war simultaneously to ensure effective dialogue for peace. India always avoided peace talks in the presence of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), Jaish-e-Muhammad and others, and was afraid of Hafiz Saeed, he added.
According to Sethi, New Delhi also says Islamabad isn’t serious for talks and, hence, there is no proper trial of Zaki-ur-Rehman Lakhvi. Pakistan is also now reciprocating in a similar fashion with reference to the proxy war and support to the Taliban and the Baloch separatists, saying India should end the practice after which it will get a similar positive response.