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We have heard the old political adage that nations do not have allies, only interests. Countries have the right to develop policy to safeguard their interests. Foreign policy should not be formed on rewarding your friends first and punishing your enemies. The priority also always be securing the national interests which may require reaching agreements with hostile nations and being at odd with our allies.
An excellent example is the recent trade faux paus with India. There was immense clamour over reviving trade ties with India after a decision was made to import sugar and cotton. However, the government categorically rejected reviving ties over the situation in Kashmir. This was clearly a political decision rather than economic one. The government will now have to seek other options to meet the domestic needs or else the prices can rise exponentially. This is where Pakistan had to take the tough decision whether to seek short term gains or take a principled take on policy issues.
It is imperative that our interests should not violate on the fundamental rights of others. We have seen how global powers turned a blind eye to Indian atrocities in Kashmir just because they had their vested interests and didn’t want to spoil ties with a large market. Similarly, we saw how Arab nations did not even convene a summit on Kashmir to condemn India. These nations have been seeking to develop diplomatic ties with Israel while negating the rights of the Palestinians.
Another situation that we have witnessed is when Pakistan was shunned from a climate summit being hosted by US President Joe Biden later this month. More than forty world leaders were invited including US rivals Russia and China but Pakistan was conveniently excluded. The invitation has not concerned Pakistani leaders but inviting India raised doubts over American interests in the region. We again saw that UK added Pakistan to the red list of countries and imposed a travel ban even though India has recorded higher number of coronavirus cases.
It is misguiding to think of international relationship in terms of friendship. States can have productive and cooperative relations with allies but they are never friends. This teaches a crucial lesson in foreign policy and diplomacy whether we should forget principles and seek narrow interests. The whole paradigm may shift if nations would develop policy based on public good rather than taking populist decisions.
