Pakistan: Imran’s insanities

Inaugurating a new Foreign Ministry office building in Islamabad the other day, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif warned of Pakistan’s isolation in the international arena in the wake of the NATO supply routes’ continued blockade. The blockade by PTI has entered its eighth week, and the PM’s reflection on it was a reminder of the US’s threat to stop reimbursement of Coalition Support Funds unless the route is reopened. If Pakistan’s cooperation dwindles, this is likely to affect the US’s disbursements of other aid too. The impact of any such move will damage Pakistan’s interests in more ways than one. It would not only be the US stopping aid to Pakistan, the entire aid programme, both bilateral and that of the international financial institutions may come to a grinding halt. A country with depleting foreign reserves and struggling to manage its economic slowdown because of the energy crisis and terrorism cannot afford such adventures with foreign policy. It is high time that the government intervenes and brings some sanity to the ground situation.

No province is constitutionally allowed to interfere in the foreign affairs of the country. The US drone schedule in Pakistan has remained unaffected by the PTI’s blockade. The most this protest would do is to further isolate Pakistan and reinforce its image of a dubious and unreliable ally, allegations that still define Pakistan-US relations. Our adventurism with jihadi proxies to sustain a foothold in Afghanistan that complicated things for the US in restoring order there has been the reason for the US’s intervention through drones in our country. Imran Khan should be protesting against Pakistan’s Afghan and other foreign policies that feed on extremism and religious fundamentalism. Drones are eliminating those that we chose to nurture, the terrorists who are bombing our cities and killing innocent people. Pakistan’s image as a hostile country is the last thing that the country wants laid on its fragile economic back.

Unless Imran Khan is gullible enough to think his present path can lead overnight to Pakistan becoming independent of foreign assistance, he should keep himself away from issues that could prove damaging for the country’s interests. His argument that it is the US and not Pakistan that is being isolated because of drones is further proof of Imran’s inability to understand international affairs vis-à-vis the world’s sole superpower. It is about time the federal government takes charge and stops the PTI’s insanity.