PPP vice chairman Senator Sherry Rehman on Tuesday warned that things in Afghanistan could badly affect Pakistan.
Talking to reporters on the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan, she noted that Pakistan had the very best stakes in Afghan peace, but the geopolitics of escalating violence nearby indicated that peace could be much further than imagined.
She said that during this scenario clear and focused policymaking reception would have far-reaching benefits for the security and economic stability of the country.
“Clarity and consensus are needed for any policy to achieve success, especially if policy agendas are focused on protecting a country’s interests and other people, which involves managing competing interests and concepts,” she said.
“In times of crisis, leadership is crucial to policy formation also as its smart articulation,” she said.
“Unfortunately, at key inflection points for the country, the prime minister, who should have the convening power and accompanying goodwill to make sure unity and consensus via political parties and parliaments, is absent. “It’s as if he feels he can outsource vital decisions which will test Pakistan, to other cabinet members and therefore the security community, who shouldn’t need to go it alone when trying to chart how forward for the country within the institutional vacuum he has created in Pakistan.
“In war or peace, a rustic needs a pacesetter who can speak moderately and intellectual integrity with parliament so as to manage a crisis or create new paths for development. Pakistan seems rudderless at the instant, with the PM only using his office to swing from one extreme position to a different,” the PPP leader said.
Asked what the PPP would have done had it been in power, she said: “We would need to reinvent no wheel. We have already got a framework in situ through which the National Security Committee of both houses of parliament came into being as a result of consensus resolution to defeat extremism and terrorism in 2008. This resolution was framed as an outcome of a joint session of parliament which happened after a series of bombings, including the attack on Hotel Marriot, and this very resolution authorized the National Security Committee of parliament to continue meetings, briefings, deliberations, and decision-making which reflected the shared stakes of parliament, which represents all of Pakistan.
“When confronted with a difficult policy choice, as an example what to try to do with existing American bases leased out covertly in 2001, this committee was ready to draft a joint agreement for Pakistan to travel forward with closing bases, but opening the bottom Lines of Communications for Nato forces bringing equipment and arms out of Afghanistan, not allowing anyone into the country via Pakistan’s air or ground space. Because we were ready to use our government’s convening power and across-the-aisle goodwill in parliament, with all key ministries and [then]President (Asif Ali) Zardari and PM (Yousuf Raza) Gilani playing key roles in tandem with other offices, the agreements were publicly acceptable in Pakistan; they were also accepted by the US and Nato entities as consensus agreements. Pakistan was ready to not only launch anti-militancy operations in 2009 via the mandate of the Parliament Resolution of 2008, but also virtually eliminate Al Qaeda from its border regions by 2013, and are available out of this tough period of sacrifice and national trauma by the power of its leadership to figure together and to hold parliament and other people with them.”
Ms. Rehman said the policy couldn’t be predicated on mood-swing statements, or personal likes or dislikes of a person. “It is pure statecraft which must reflect the institutional expression of state interests also because the political will of the people of Pakistan. Big decisions need big leaders who can sublimate their ego to public interests and institutional tradecraft, not just reach bent mass media via tweets and television addresses. As Pakistan faces one of the worst emerging regional situations in decades, the primary test of its policy is to not lock itself into policy straitjackets but to be ready to navigate a fine balance between friends and frenemies.
“There may be a tightening of the international community revolve around Pakistan with regard to FATF, GSP-plus benchmarks, among other multilateral exposure windows, and despite the quantity of our messaging, India won’t be put to an equivalent standard. during a non-level global playing field, Pakistan will need maturity and political depth to manage the best outcomes. We also got to utilize the CPEC opportunity better and move forward with our all-weather friends with greater consistency and stability in our responses. No friend, regardless of how supportive they’re, should be taken without any consideration .”
Though on behalf of the PTI, its Secretary-General Aamir Kiani, and federal ministers Murad Saeed and Mr. Gandapur have addressed some public meetings in Mirpur and Kotli districts, the regional leadership has been aspiring for the visits of PM Khan to spice up the morale and enthusiasm of party workers.
In Tuesday’s meeting, it had been decided that Mr. Khan would address his first public meeting on July 12 in Mirpur, from where Mr. Mahmood is contesting elections himself. On July 18, the prime minister would speak at a public meeting in Bagh city from where Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan is trying his luck while on July 23 — just two days before the polling — the prime minister would address the last public meeting of the election campaign in Muzaffarabad from where the PTI’s central joint secretary Khawaja Farooq Ahmed may be a candidate.
According to the handout, both Mr. Mahmood and Mr. Gandapur also briefed PM Khan on the campaign strategy of PTI candidates.
