Response to Trump’s allegations should come from parliament: experts

LAHORE: The most appropriate response to Washington’s allegation that Pakistan is harbouring terrorists should come from the parliament unequivocally in the form of a joint resolution. 

By announcing a shift in policy from its earlier ‘Nation Building’ approach to now out and out armed conflict with voices of dissent in Afghanistan, the US has flushed down the gutter the lives of its 2,300 soldier, 16 years of work and one trillion dollars spent on the ‘Nation Building’ policy. 

Pakistani political leadership and military top brass need to sit together and make sure that the country doesn’t face any embarrassing situation like the OBL debacle.  These views were shared by defence and foreign policy experts at Jang Forum held in relevance with Donald Trump’s recent criticism and allegations against Pakistan. 

The panelists included former central Media Coordinator PML-N Muhammad Mahdi, former additional foreign secretary Nazir Hussain, Dean and Head of the Department Political Science University of Punjab Prof Dr Rasheed Ahmed Khan and Defence Strategy Expert Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Anwar Mahmood Khan. The forum was moderated by Moayyed Jafri.

Nazir Hussain said the statement by Trump regarding Pakistan can be broken down into three prongs. The first of which was his appreciation for the role Pakistan has played and the sacrifices laid by Pakistan in fighting terrorism, which is a welcome admission and acknowledgement coming from the American President. The second part is the allegation of terrorist sanctuaries, which ISPR had preemptively denied in the presser a day before Trump’s speech and had offered third party verification to disprove that allegation, however, Washington apparently disagrees. The third part was India’s role in the Indo-Pacific region and support for expansion of India’s role and influence in the region.

The former additional foreign secretary said with these trends in mind, Pakistani strategists will need to ask themselves the age old questions, what is better for Pakistan’s security and interests in the long term vis-à-vis Afghanistan, is it a Taliban coalition or Indian dominated controlled Western Border of Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan should send a strong message back to Washington and the best way to do that is through the platform of the parliament. Central Media Coordinator PML-N Muhammad Mahdi said that the American policy regarding Afghanistan is mostly CPEC-centric and how to safeguard the economic interests of its allies. He said: “We should consider that the tone of foreign leaders when talking about a country depends heavily on what kind of leadership is present in the country. We must not forget that we have recently deposed a popular prime minister who had tow-third majority.”

He said Hussain Haqqani was among the team that prepared Trump’s final policy statement over South Asia Pakistani political leadership and military top brass need to sit together and make sure that the country doesn’t face any embarrassing situation like the OBL debacle, he said. We will need to trust our foreign office and every stakeholder will need to be on board to reach a policy stance over this.

Dean and Head of the Department Political Science University of Punjab Prof Dr Rasheed Ahmed Khan said the statement by the American president is the outburst of a leader outraged by his failures in Afghanistan. Policy shift by Washington should be a major concern for Pakistan because Trump’s principal adviser has stated: “The solution to Afghanistan is not in Afghanistan, but in Pakistan”. However, nothing drastic will ensue right after these statements. The US will most likely threaten Pakistan with drone strikes deep within our territory, he opined. Pakistan, he said, should not fall for the US pressure but should focus their own strategic and regional interests while crafting its policy.

Defense Strategy Expert Air Vice Marshal (Retd) Anwar Mahmood Khan said by announcing a shift in policy from its earlier ‘Nation Building’ approach to now out and out armed conflict with voices of dissent in Afghanistan, the US has flushed down the gutter the lives of its 2300 soldier, 16 years of work and one trillion dollars spent on the ‘Nation Building’ policy. He said this outburst also marks the failure of Pakistani lobbyists and foreign office in Washington. He said foreign policy is a reflection of internal policy and a country that acquired $ 35 billion debt in the past four years cannot hardly stand up to such statements.  

He said Pakistan Army has arguably proven itself to be the most potent fighting force against terrorism as they are the only one to have defeated terrorism. He said it took Pakistan 70 years to mend fences with Afghanistan and it might take 70 more to do it again because of the rapidly convoluting geopolitical situation in this region. He was of the view that favoritism in appointments to foreign office and other key policymaking institutions need to end if we are actually serious about this situation.