Experts urge political cool down, economic consensus

Islamabad : Speakers at the Devcom-Pakistan webinar opined that multiple threats are confronting Pakistan at this historic juncture and the country is on the verge of collapse due to all accumulated domestic and international geopolitical blunders.

They said that all stakeholders are guilty of this chaos, crisis, and clash of vested interests. National interest seems absolutely compromised. Sanity shall prevail to consolidate real-time solutions to combat internal and external threats ranging from geopolitical to national leadership crises, socioeconomic failures, and non-traditional security challenges. The well-known geostrategic affairs experts suggested that the controversial figureheads in the political arena and in the state institutions shall remain silent for a while. A national economic revival commission shall be formed. The commission shall have indigenous, noncontroversial, and non-political technocrats. It should be created by the state institutions through a consultative process. Let the politicians sit together to work sanely.

Development Communications Network (Devcom-Pakistan) organized the webinar on “Contemporary Threats to Pakistan” on Saturday. The guest speakers included Lt. General (r) Talat Masood, senior journalist Mazhar Abbas, Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed, and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade chief Hassan Daud Butt. Research analyst Farhat Rana, China trade expert Khalid Mahmood, a geopolitical analyst from London Muhammad Nawaz Raja, International Relations expert Sadiq Hussain, also senior financial expert Iftikhar Ahmed also spoke on the occasion.

Lt. General (r) Talat Masood urged the large political parties to act sanely and resolve their conflicts and reservations in the parliament. We shall not postpone the moment of truth at this critical moment but rather face it rationally. Pakistan needs to improve its security situation while balancing its geopolitical positioning. We cannot undermine the bilateral relations with one or more countries to have preferred relations with another one. Domestic solidarity and political consensus are very important for pitching ourselves in geopolitical scenarios.

Devcom-Pakistan Executive Director Munir Ahmed urged the military establishment to play its role in wiping off the politico-economic chaos in the best possible manner. Political tolerance and reconciliation are extremely important in the heated up political environment. It is adding to the national economic fiasco and vulnerability to the geopolitical situations around us. We shall form a national economic revival commission having independent economic and financial experts immediately review the situation and suggest an action plan for implementation through the government of technocrats, strongly supported by the establishment.

Senior journalist, Mazhar Abbas, said: “Politicians need to resolve their conflicts within the parliament, not in the courts. Political consensus on fresh elections, depolarization, and cooling down political hatred would lead to a stable political situation at the moment.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Board of Investment and Trade chief executive Dr. Hassan Daud Butt highlighted the need to explore local natural endowments including human resources and embrace the concept of globalization.