ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan needs to focus on peace-oriented approach and bid adieu to military approach for guaranteeing the perpetual peace in the entire region, Speakers at a Seminar on 70 years of Pakistan were of the view.
The Seminar was organised by Senate Defence Committee in collaboration with Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS) at Serena Hotel in Islamabad with an aim to provide a critical insight into 70-year journey of Pakistan.
Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, Dr Lita Viehweger, Chairman Higher Education Commission (HEC) Dr Mukhtar, Dr Syed Akmal Hussain, Naeem Tahir, and Director Tsinghus University International Centre for Communication Beijing Professor Li Xiguang addressed the Seminar.
The Seminar would provide recommendations to policy makers to provide an insight in political economical social and strategic issues of Pakistan.
In their addresses, Speakers urged the need for shifting the approach towards peace, and also underlined the importance of friendship among neighbours to meet the ultimate objective.
Speakers were of the view that Pakistan had all the potentials to lead the region; however it required Pakistan to take multi-faceted threats seriously and tackle them with pro-active diplomacy.
While lauding Pakistan’s role in war on terror and its success against militancy in a short span of time, Speakers termed the 1979 Afghan Policy as a total failure, and urged Pakistani incumbent leadership to refrain from engaging itself in any war; rather endeavors must be applied for peace along with strengthening bilateral ties with neighbours.
Speakers further said multi-billion dollar China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) could be a game changer. They said it was an era of knowledge economy and Pakistan should have taken the advantage of it.
Talking about multi-faceted threats being faced by Pakistan, Speakers were of the view that rapid growth of Pakistan’s population which had surged to 207.77 million as per the 2017 census was one of its potential threats, and environmental degradation coupled with hostile enemies around.
Speakers warned that South Asia particularly Pakistan would have to deal with four major challenges in the future such as growing extremism in India; balance in relationship among Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iran; state-sponsored terrorism in Indian Occupied Kashmir; and population growth.
In addition, Speakers acknowledged Pakistan’s role for world peace, saying Islamabad always stood by friends, and sometimes had to pay a heavy price for favoring other nations including Palestine. They said Pakistan was the first to recognize Palestine in Lahore even before Arab league recognized Palestine.
Speakers said Pakistan also played a pivotal role in Arab Israel war to protect the Middle East as well as it stood with Bosnian Muslims.
Turning to international political scenario, Speakers said balance of power was shifting from West to East as China was emerging reality of the world while the United States was decaying.
Furthermore, Speakers voiced concerns over Indian role, who they claimed, was being sponsored by hawks from Washington.
Speakers also reiterated that if there was no peace in Afghanistan, there would be no peace in the region.
