Pakistan must enhance engagement with US: Musharraf

Says US should consider changing global dynamics while framing Pakistan policy

WASHINGTON: Former president General Pervez Musharraf has urged the government to enhance its engagement with the new US administration under President Donald Trump, as it is starting without any baggage of the past.

He was addressing as a keynote speaker at the launch of “Pakistan Today: The Case for US-Pakistan Relations,” a new policy study by Ambassador Shirin Tahir-Kheli and Shahid Javed Burki at the John Hopkins University here.

The former military ruler said the US should also consider the changing global dynamic while framing its Pakistan policy.

“Pakistan needs to actively engage with the new administration which is more open to understanding the complex dynamics of issues in Pakistan and Afghanistan,” he said, adding that currently the ties between the two countries are undergoing a weaker phase.

The former ruler also emphasized that the world had changed from unipolar to multipolar, as China and Russia were also emerging as new players on the global scene.

“The United States should understand Pakistan’s need to have good relations with China as long as these ties are not affecting the US-Pak ties and similarly Pakistan should understand the need for US-India relations as long as it does not affect Pakistan’s interest,” he said.

He said the US had committed a blunder in Afghanistan after military defeat of Taliban by not converting its military victory into political victory by allowing majority Pushtoon their due share in the government.

“This was a blunder, as for one and a half years after defeat of Taliban in Afghanistan there was a power vacuum but the US did nothing to convert its military gains into political victory,” he said.

To a question, the former military ruler said Pakistan’s democracy needed to be tailored to improve governance in the country.

He said there must be checks and balances in the system so that a political government could be changed if it fails to perform well in terms of public welfare.

Addressing the event, former national security adviser General (R) Mahmud Durrani said for foreseeable future, the Pakistan Army would continue to play its role in governance, foreign policy, law and order and natural disaster management.

He admitted that the army’s professionalism was affected owing to its involvement in other activities.

Durrani said the civilian institutions had failed to deliver and people still had faith in the army as one of the best functioning institutions.

“I believe the answer to Pakistan’s problem is a reform political order and not the army takeover,” he said, adding that the current political government and army were on the same page when it came to fighting terrorism.

One of the authors of the report and former vice president of the World Bank Shahid Javed Burki said for the first time in 70 years of the history of US-Pak ties, the United States needs Pakistan more than the latter needing the former. 

He said Pakistan was one of the few countries in the region which were making fast social and economic progress. He said Pakistan was not a fragile state and failing state. 

“In last 70 years Pakistan’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth has increased by 17 times which makes it one of the few developing countries to achieve this feat,” he said.

He said under the current government, Pakistan’s economy had improved with increased growth rate, successful completion of IMFprogrammes and human resource development.

Burki said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor would bring prosperity in Pakistan and the region. “CPEC is not well-understood. Chinese are building new ways of doing commerce with world as instead of sea they are developing land routes. They are nervous about US ability to block sea routes so they are looking for alternatives,” he said. He said Pakistan’s future looks bright owing to its strategic location, agriculture potential and increasingly empowered women workforce.