Daily Times

This week, I availed the opportunity to attend the weekly press briefing by Dr Mohammad Faisal, the Foreign Office spokesperson, at the ministry’s headquarters in Islamabad. In his detailed briefing, Dr Faisal highlighted various issues pertaining to foreign policy and national security which, among others, included India’s frequent violations of ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC), the precarious situation in Indian-Occupied Kashmir (IoK), the Kulbhushan Jhadav case and the third emergence in recent weeks of anti-Pakistan public advertisements in European cities – namely London and Geneva. While these issues were the highlight, others such as rumoured reports of Swiss Embassy Islamabad denying visas to some senior government officials were also mentioned by media personnel.

These developments signify how important it has become for Pakistan to adopt realpolitik and limited neo-realist policies to further promote its foreign policy goals despite living in a multi-polar neo-liberal global society that is gradually receding to isolationism in certain parts of the world. I did manage to ask him a question on how Pakistan tends to counter Indian propaganda advertisements in Europe to which a satisfactory response was given which stated that strict action has already been taken by Pakistan High Commission London – a copy of Transport for London (TfL) commissioner’s apology letter also eventually floated in the media later on. However, further steps need to be taken as pre-emptive/counter measures for the Indian intelligence agencies would continue to take such malicious actions in the future.

Moreover, the issue of Kashmir must be addressed according to the aspirations of the Kashmiris through the notion of the right to self-determination, as India cannot keep them hostage and must remain open for dialogue unconditionally. Though recently the former chief minister of IoK Farooq Abdullah surprisingly wished for maintaining the status-quo, this cannot actually happen owing to a complicated dispute that requires UN mandate as a necessity. It must be kept in mind that India has acted on hegemonic doctrines for far too long and Pakistan has done its best to promote peace and stability, contrary to what some sections of the media claim. Furthermore, it is also necessary to mention that India is on the high ground along the LoC region with heavy fencing, hence, its claim of alleged militants crossing over from Pakistani side is absurd and a pack of lies, to say the least.

Bilateral talks have hardly made any progress so Pakistan’s only option is to use close and mutual international allies to push India into maintaining stability. As for the Jhadav case, India’s Justice Dalbeer Bhandari is likely to lose the ICJ elections which would hugely benefit Pakistan regardless of what detractors and sceptics perceive. It can be said with high optimism that Islamabad would make positive progress on the case and has even allowed the spy’s wife to meet him on pure humanitarian grounds – though there are rumoured reports that his wife is missing in India.

Coming to the alleged Swiss visas issue, it is likely linked to Pakistan’s strong protest over recent Indian propaganda designs and presence of notorious militant leader Brahmdagh Bugti in Geneva. Nevertheless, only principled stances can lead to moral high grounds for which the state must be commended in its recent proactive efforts.

Islamabad must actively pursue public diplomacy to project soft power and enhance image perception in major world capitals through appropriate diplomatic forums. Specific focus should remain on multiplying lobbying efforts and track II diplomacy in certain states – such work has already borne fruits in certain European capitals such as London and Berlin. The Foreign Office has some of the finest diplomats in its domain that can really help pursue such goals. Hence, it is hoped that Pakistan would be able to project its stance in a succinct manner in the near future subject to countering certain hurdles in the way.

The writer is a geopolitical analyst and an alumnus of the Department of War Studies, King’s College London, University of London. He regularly appears on the media to discuss and debate on issues related to foreign policy, politics and national security. He can be reached at hassankhan440@gmail.comand tweets @mhassankhan06

Published in Daily Times, November 17^th 2017.