Pakistan’s new policy

THE Pakistan Government offered two sneak previews of its first-ever national security policy last week. The first input by an unnamed official to the media was about the policy focusing on geo-economics. Then, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan made public about half of this policy document on the day the Punjab Police recovered a 5-kg bomb near the India-Pak border. Two days earlier, Babar Bhai, who had infiltrated from Pakistan, was gunned down in Kulgam, Kashmir. Though of acute interest to India, the new security policy gives no insight into whether Pakistan’s purported geo-economic pivot also means abandoning in Kashmir and Punjab its once-successful and low-cost policy of ‘inflicting a thousand cuts’, perfected against the occupying Soviet forces in Afghanistan.

In terms of the traditional security framework, Pakistan plans to not just upgrade its capabilities in continental defence but also step up its maritime activities, all with an eye on India where ‘a regressive and dangerous ideology’ has heightened the prospect of violent conflict. For an ecosystem that is well and truly on the ventilator, Pakistan would do well with the extra focus on economics. Surprisingly, instead of reducing the aggressive space for disagreement on trade, the policy counter-accuses India of ‘holding hostage’ eastward connectivity. The disconnect between rhetoric and reality cannot be starker. For over two months now, Pakistan has been unable to decide on land transit for Indian aid to the starving people of Afghanistan.

The strategic goals of a ‘dedicated focus’ on export-led growth will remain partly fulfilled if Pakistan continues to block access of its businesses to a natural market in the Indian subcontinent. The policy rightly points out that sustainable and inclusive economic growth is needed to bolster traditional and human security. It claims to demonstrate resolve against extremism and sectarianism, both of which have been fuelled by the ISI’s violent meddling in different parts of India. It is unfair to make assumptions from only half a policy. But the conspicuous sense of hostility in the 17 references to India suggests that Pakistan needs more soul-searching for economics to become the principal load-bearing pillar of its ties with India.

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