Sir: It is quite commendable and congruous initiative of Pakistan’s foreign policy to restore and revive the relationships with Moscow after such a long time, by conducting joint military drills in mountainous terrains in Pakistan. This new rapprochement has flabbergasted everyone especially our neighbour countries Afghanistan and India, who have been conspiring to mount a global campaign for isolation of Pakistan in the region and the world. This is the first time in the history of both Pakistan and Russia that they are participating in special drills of armed forces. Undoubtedly, when we look back at history’s pages, we find that there was a cordial relationship between Moscow and Islamabad, and it is the one who also assisted us in building Pakistan Steel Mills and strengthened and supported us to fulfil our power and energy requirements. But later Russia inclined towards India by building and enhancing the strategic relationship and became its largest arms supplier when Pakistan impetuously played a wrong card by shaking hands with the US. The split further intensified after Soviets’ invasion of Afghanistan as Pakistan unconditionally supported Afghanis in their war against Moscow in the name of Jihad but later realised that we were exploited as pawn and puppet by Washington and still have been facing the wages of sin. It is the old strategy of Pentagon to use different countries for its personal loaves and fishes as a tool against their enemy, as they used Pakistan in the Afghan war. It can also be said that Russia has done more for Pakistan than the US in relative terms. In past Russia also agreed to sell four Mi-35M helicopters to Pakistan and welcomed Islamabad to join the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO). Moscow also agreed regarding cooperation in the fields of railways, water and power, and framework cooperation with Pakistan Steel Mill. The international environment is complicated and multifaceted. Now Russia has come up with a very new friendly gesture by condoning mutual differences of the past even ignoring the reluctance of New Delhi on conducting mutual armed exercise after the unprecedented deterioration of relations between New Delhi and Islamabad. But it must be kept in the mind that this change of Russian policy is caused by the growing inclination of New Delhi towards the US, and Russia will not abandon its privileged ties with India for Pakistan. So it is high time for our government to discriminate between friend and foe and there is dire need to play our cards prudently. We must work to exploit our strategic value by strengthening relationships with Russia and other countries on different forums, and there is a possibility in the future that on the model of Pak-China relations, we may also have a strong relationship with Russia. IMRAN ALI PHULL Karachi