Daily Times

Sir: Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir, addressing a press conference on Thursday, tried belatedly to rationalise the precarious position of the foreign policy establishment on the death of Osama bin Laden. In my opinion, he failed miserably to dispel the growing confusion surrounding the US operation to get Osama. He contradicted himself more than once.

His mention of international law, sovereignty, national pride, self-respect and independence was mere humbug. Nobody is going to buy these clichés if you are cut off from your own neighbourhood. I suspect he is not aware of what the world is saying about us after the most daring unilateral operation in the close vicinity of our premier military training facility.

He was trying to justify the ostrich style of his office within the context of an outdated single basket foreign policy, which has repeatedly failed to meet the challenges of our times. How can he reduce Pakistan’s dependence on distant powers without integrating Pakistan in the presently stalled SAARC process? How can Pakistan defeat extremism and terrorism without taking all our immediate neighbours on board?

The foreign policy hatched in 1949 is no response to the mounting pressures of the present era. How long can you remain tethered to the cold war mindset, which is genetically blind to realities on the ground?

If Salman Bashir presumably agrees that terrorism is our enemy number one, what stops him from advocating a policy of peace and reconciliation in conflict scarred South Asia without of course compromising our principled stand on core India-Pak issues?

We must maintain good relations with the US but there are more than 192 UN member states including eight SAARC nations that deserve equal attention.

B A MALIK

Islamabad