‘Impact of Covid-19 on Pakistan’s IR at Regional & Global Levels’ (10th Session)

Balanced, skillful diplomacy essential for Pakistan
amid evolving new world order: Khokhar

The
present world order is at stake due to the coronavirus pandemic and
the new world order is apparently starting to take shape with China taking the
lead. Pakistan however should not opt to pillion-ride with China on every issue
and must engage in skillful balancing of its relations with other important
countries as well.

The
thoughts were shared by former foreign secretary Riaz Hussain Khokhar in a
webinar titled ‘Impact of Covid-19 on Pakistan’s International Relations at
Regional and Global Levels’. The online session was organized by Institute of
Policy Studies (IPS), Islamabad on  May 13, 2020 as part of its ongoing
webinar series ‘Covid-19: Global Challenges, National Response’. The discussion
was jointly chaired by former secretary finance Dr Waqar Masood Khan and
Executive President IPS Khalid Rahman, whereas the discussants included
Ambassador (r) Tajammul Altaf, IPS’ senior research associate, Syed Muhammad
Ali, senior research fellow and Ambassador
(r) Ayaz Wazir.

Regarding
the Covid-19 outbreak, Khokhar stated that Pakistan’s friendship with China has
once again withstood the test of time. This strong relationship could also
prove vital in bringing much-needed reforms to the weak health infrastructure
in the country as well as the vulnerable sectors of education, agriculture,
science and technology, and environment, which have been exposed in the wake of
the pandemic. Pakistan’s Covid-19 graph for positive cases as well as for
deaths is expected to go up with time and so it must put its act together at
the earliest as failure to do so will make things very difficult for the
country to handle.

The
speaker advised Pakistan to maintain balanced relations with other countries such
as the US alongside China in view of its own national interests. He warned that
the US president is trying to whip up hysteria about China ahead of the US
elections, and the tussle between the two countries including the issue of
South China Sea could may well make the US pile pressure on Pakistan.

Talking
about the current global scenario, the speaker said that a lot of economic
disruption is going to take place due to Covid-19 whereas Pakistan’s gap
between the haves and have-nots is also expanding rapidly. China, Saudi Arabia,
and the UAE, just like all other countries, are faced with tough times
themselves due to the pandemic and may not be able to reschedule their loans to
Pakistan very favorably.

Throwing
light on the developing scenario in Afghanistan, Khokhar said that he ethnic
mosaic of the country has been damaged considerably and there could be no peace
until it is repaired. Pakistan could play a role in further facilitating talks
between the Afghan government and Taliban, but it is not in a good position to
do so because of the mistrust by both the entities. The spread of coronavirus
in Afghanistan is also going to increase, and this will cause problems for
Pakistan as well due to the flow of people crossing the border, he said.

Having
spent about ten years of his service engaging directly with India, the former
foreign secretary said that India is already making war sounds even in the
current situation and may forge an attack on Pakistan. It would however want
Pakistan to escalate the situation to shift the blame and justify its attack.
He was sure that there were least chances of the two countries to engage in any
meaningful dialogue in near future due to the distrust factor, and the gap,
according to the speaker, was widening due to the attitude of the current
government in India.

Speaking
of the Kashmir issue, Khokhar said that it is nearly a non-issue for the
international community just like Palestine. Pakistan does have an option to
take the issue to international organizations but the problem is that the major
powers operate as per their own interests and would not stand by our side. The
UN Security Council is a broad-based entity on its face, but the absence of any
Muslim country as its permanent member clearly shows the nonseriousness on its
part. Even the OIC does not have a strong voice among the comity of nations.

He
said India has already put SAARC on a ventilator, making the options for
regional cooperation very limited. The ECO may offer a ray of hope for the
country, especially keeping in view the evolving shape of the new world order,
and more such avenues should be carefully explored to communicate our concerns
over Kashmir issue to the world community.

“Pakistan cannot
write off the Kashmir issue altogether with India continually engaged in a
genocide in the region. The situation demands fundamental decisions about
Pakistan’s stance and its future strategy on Kashmir to be taken as a nation,
and those decisions should be taken through consultations involving the
government, politicians, other stakeholders and the people in general,” Khokhar
added.