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Notes For Final Term GIK, Pak Studies
Notes For Final Term GIK, Pak Studies
Islamic Republic of Pakistan maintains a large diplomatic network across the world.
Pakistan is the second largest Muslim-majority country in terms of population (after
Indonesia) and is only Muslim majority nation to have tested nuclear weapons.
Pakistan's economy is integrated into the world with strong trade ties to the EU and
economic alliances and agreements with many Asian nations.
Pakistan has a strategically important geo-political location,
has Afghanistan, China, India and Iran in immediate neighborhood, is at the
corridor of world major maritime oil supply lines, is located between gas & oil rich
middle east and world's population centers (East & South Asia). Pakistan has been
maintaining a tensed relationship with neighboring Republic of India and close
relationships with People's Republic of China and Arab nations. Pakistan is a
member of the Organization(OIC), is named by the US as a major non-NATO
ally in the war against terrorism and one of founding members of IMCTC.
Pakistan's Foreign Policy seeks to protect, promote and advance Pakistan's national
interests in the comity of nations”
M A Jinnah's Vision On 15 August 1947, outlining the foreign policy of
Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam observed:
“Our objective should be peace within and peace without. We want to live
peacefully and maintain cordial and friendly relations with our immediate neighbors
and with world at large. We have no aggressive designs against any one. We stand
by the United Nations Charter and will gladly make our contribution to the peace
and prosperity of the world.”
The foreign policy of Pakistan sets out in the way it interacts with foreign nations
and to determine its standard of interactions for its organizations, corporations and
individual citizens. Backed by the semi-agricultural and semi-
industrialized economy, Pakistan is the 42nd largest (nominal GDP) and 23rd
largest (purchasing) economic power and 6th largest military in the world, with a
defense budget ofUS$11.4 billion (2018) 4.0% of its GDP (2018). The Foreign
Minister of Pakistan is the official charged with state-to-state diplomacy, although
the Prime minister maintains an ultimate authority over foreign policy. The state
foreign policy includes defining the national interest, as well as the economic
interest and strategies chosen both to safeguard that and to achieve its policy goals.
Following the general election held on May 2013, Tariq Fatimi and NSA Sartaj
Aziz were designated as advisers to the Prime Minister on foreign and strategic
policies. After the dismissal of Nawaz Sharif's government in July 2017, Khawaja
Muhammad Asif held the portfolio of foreign minister under the premiership of
Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. After the victory of Imran Khan in the Pakistan General
Elections 2018, Shah Mehmood Qureshi was named the Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Since its independence in 1947, Pakistan's foreign policy has encompassed difficult
relations with the neighboring Soviet Union (USSR) who maintained a close
military and ideological interaction with the neighboring countries such
as Afghanistan (in the West) and India (in East). During most of 1947–1991, the
USSR support was given to Republic of India, over which it has fought three wars
on Kashmir conflict. During the 1960s, Pakistan's relations with and
neighboring Afghanistan have also been extremely difficult due to the latter's contest
over the Durand Line. The foreign relations with Iran, Saudi
Arabia and China remain extremely important and based on the extensive
cooperation in national security and economical interests in the Persian Gulf and
wide-ranging bilateral relations with the United States and other Western countries.
With the growing influence of USSR in the region, Pakistan cemented close security
relations with China in Asia and Poland in Europe during most of the Cold War.
While Pakistan had "on-off relations" with the United States, Pakistan assisted
President Nixon reproach with China and other East Asian countries.
Pakistan-China relation
China has played a significant role in the development, economy and security of
Pakistan, with relationship beginning in 1950 when Pakistan was among the first
countries to enter into official diplomatic relations with the Republic of
China (on Taiwan) and recognize the People's Republic of China (PRC) regime on
mainland China. Since then, both countries have placed considerable importance on
the maintenance of an extremely close and supportive special relationship and the
two countries have regularly exchanged high-level visits resulting in a variety of
agreements. The PRC has provided economic, military, and technical assistance to
Pakistan, and each country considers the other a close strategic ally.
Pakistan–United States relations
The United States has played an important role in the young history of Pakistan,
being one of the first countries to recognize their independence on 14 August
1947. The relationship between the two countries went through varying levels of
friendliness, but Pakistan consistently found themselves on the United States side of
issues faced during the Cold War. Pakistan served as a geostrategic position for
United States military bases during the Cold War since it bordered the Soviet Union
and China. These positive relations would fall apart following successful
cooperation in fighting the Soviet Union's influence in Central Asia and the
subsequent fall of the Soviet Union. ln reaction to Pakistan's new nuclear capacity,
the United States would pass the Pressler Amendment approving sanctions against
Pakistan, but relations would restrengthen following 9/11 with Pakistan's warm
response following the tragedy. Aid would be given to Pakistan for the first time
again in 2002, and the 2000s saw an extension of this friendly relationship.
As the War on Terror continued to linger, the United States and Pakistan would
disagree on strategies while also accusing each other of various things. This dynamic
would reach a head following a few incidents highlighted by the operation to kill
Osama bin Laden in Abbottabad. While these incidents wore down the trust between
the two nations, the two would continue to share a healthy relationship. Although
the two countries do not view each other favorably in polls, the two governments
share an important relationship featuring multiple types of aid to Pakistan, important
military cooperation and collaboration, and a strategic ally in Central Asia for the
United States. The United States and Pakistan's relationship persists of promoting
trade and regional economic cooperation, this type of relationship is beneficial for
both countries and gives incentive for continuing friendly relations. U.S. also has
concerns regarding Pakistan include regional and global terrorism; Afghan stability;
democratization and human rights protection; the ongoing Kashmir problem and
Pakistan-India tensions; and economic development. Recently US stopped military
aid to Pakistan, which was about US$2 billion per year.
Muslim world
After Independence, Pakistan vigorously pursued bilateral relations with other
Muslim countries and made a wholehearted bid for leadership of the Muslim world,
or at least for leadership in achieving its unity. The Ali brothers had sought to project
Pakistan as the natural leader of the Islamic world, in large part due to its large
manpower and military strength. A top-ranking Muslim League leader,
Khaliquzzaman, declared that Pakistan would bring together all Muslim countries
into Islamistan – a pan-Islamic entity. Such developments (alongside Pakistan's
creation) did not get American approval and British Prime Minister Clement
Attlee voiced international opinion at the time by stating that he wished that India
and Pakistan would re-unite. Since most of the Arab world was undergoing a
nationalist awakening at the time, there was little attraction to Pakistan's Pan-Islamic
aspirations. Some of the Arab countries saw the 'Islamistan' project as a Pakistani
attempt to dominate other Muslim states.
Pakistan vigorously championed the right of self-determination for Muslims around
the world. Pakistan's efforts for the independence movements of Indonesia, Algeria,
Tunisia, Morocco and Eritrea were significant and initially led to close ties between
these countries and Pakistan. On the other hand, Pakistan's relations with Iran have
been strained at times due to sectarian tensions. Saudi Arabia used Pakistan as a
battleground for his proxy sectarian war and by the 1990s,
Army collaboration
Army Service Corps School has trained up to 30 officers from Muslim countries like
Bangladesh, Bosnia, Maldives, Palestine, Turkey. Pakistan Army Military College
of Signals has trained more than 500 officers from places such as Burma, Bahrain,
Bangladesh, Bosnia, Gambia, Ghana, Indonesia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kenya, Libya,
Malaysia, Oman, Nepal, Nigeria, Oman, Palestine, Sudan, South Africa, Sri Lanka,
Saudi Arabia, Tanzania, Turkmenistan, Uganda, UAE and Zambia, most of these
countries are member of OIC.
Naval collaboration
More than 1900 officers from Muslim countries such as Saudi Arabia, UAE,
Bahrain, Qatar, Palestine, Turkmenistan, Lebanon, Iran, Ghana, Jordan, Kuwait,
Libya and Oman have been trained in Pakistan Naval Academy. Pakistan SSGN has
also trained officers from countries like Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Qatar and Iran.
The fauna of Pakistan also reflects the country's varied climate. Around 668 bird
species are found there, including crows,sparrows, mynas, hawks, falcons,
and eagles. Palas, Kohistan, has a significant population of western tragopan. Many
birds sighted in Pakistan are migratory, coming from Europe, Central Asia, and
India.
The southern plains are home to mongooses, small Indian civet, hares, the Asiatic
jackal, the Indian pangolin, the jungle cat, and the desert cat. There are mugger
crocodiles in the Indus, and wild boar, deer, porcupines, and small rodents in the
surrounding areas. The sandy scrublands of central Pakistan are home to Asiatic
jackals, striped hyenas, wildcats, and leopards. The lack of vegetative cover, the
severe climate, and the impact of grazing on the deserts have left wild animals in a
precarious position. The chinkara is the only animal that can still be found in
significant numbers in Cholistan. A small number of nilgai are found along the
Pakistan–India border and in some parts of Cholistan. A wide variety of animals live
in the mountainous north, including the Marco Polo sheep, the urial (a subspecies of
wild sheep), the markhor goat, the ibex goat, the Asian black bear, and
theHimalayan brown bear. Among the rare animals found in the area are the snow
leopard and the blind Indus river dolphin, of which there are believed to be about
1,100 remaining, protected at the Indus River Dolphin Reserve in Sindh. In total,
174 mammals, 177 reptiles, 22 amphibians, 198 freshwater fish species and 5,000
species of invertebrates (including insects) have been recorded in Pakistan.
The flora and fauna of Pakistan suffer from a number of problems. Pakistan has the
second-highest rate of deforestation in the world, which, along with hunting and
pollution, has had adverse effects on the ecosystem. The government has established
a large number of protected areas, wildlife sanctuaries, and game reserves to address
these issues.
CULTURE OF PAKISTAN, ITS RICH CULTURE HERITAGE
Pakistan’s culture is enrich in traditions and represents history of this region.
Pakistani people and society is unique in its way of life, thoughts and morals. The
inhabitants of each province have diverse cultural values which make them
different from other groups of the society.
Our Culture:
Pakistan has a rich and unique culture that upholds traditions and conventions.
Pakistani culture is rich in variety of dresses; these dresses are very colorful and
prominent and give attractive look during national fairs and festivals
Fairs and Festivals:
The culture of Pakistan has great tradition of fairs and festivals. These fairs are held
in all parts of the country, Polo festival of Gilgit is prominent at national and
international level.
Sports:
Pakistani people are great lovers of sports and games. Modern games like hockey,
cricket, football, badminton, squash, table tennis and lawn tennis are played
throughout the country. Pakistan has produced great sportsmen in the past.
Handicrafts:
Pakistan enjoys great distinction in handicrafts at international level. Wooden
furniture of Chiniot, sports goods of Sialkot and embroidery of Multan and
Hyderabad is world famous.
Language:
Although Urdu is the only official language of Pakistan, English is the lingua franca
of the Pakistani elite and most of the government ministries, so it is not uncommon
for companies to use English as their internal business language.
Urdu is closely related to Hindi but is written in an extended Arabic alphabet rather
than in Devanagari. Urdu also has more loans from Arabic and Persian than Hindi
has.
Many other languages are spoken in Pakistan, including Punjabi, Siraiki, Sindhi,
Pashtu, Balochi, Hindko, Brahui, Burushaski, Balti, Khawar, Gujrati and other
languages with smaller numbers of speakers.
Muslim 97% (Sunni 77%, Shi'a 20%), Christian, Hindu, and other (inc. Sikh) 3%
Islam is practised by the majority of Pakistanis and governs their personal,
political, economic and legal lives.
Among certain obligations for Muslims are to pray five times a day - at dawn,
noon, afternoon, sunset, and evening.
Friday is the Muslim holy day. Everything is closed.
During the holy month of Ramadan all Muslims must fast from dawn to dusk and
are only permitted to work six hours per day. Fasting includes no eating, drinking,
cigarette smoking, or gum chewing.
Music:
Pakistani music is represented by a wide variety of forms. It ranges from traditional
styles such as Qawwali and Ghazal to more modern forms that blend traditional
Pakistani music with Western music
23rd March (Pakistan Day), 1st May (May Day), August 14th (Independence
Day), 6th September (Defence of Pakistan Day), 11th September (Death of Ali
Jinnah) and 15th December (Birthday of Ali Jinnah)
The most famous festival in Pakistan is undoubtedly the seasonal kite flying
festival of ‘Basant’ which marks the beginning of Spring and falls late January or
early February. Unfortunately however, this festival has been banned in many
areas for the immediate future due to accidents and deaths associated with the
festival. It is hoped that the implementation of relevant safety measures will enable
this much loved festival to resume.
Another much loved festival is the annual ‘Utchal’ festival which is held on the
15th – 16th July to celebrate the harvesting of wheat and barley.
The national Horse and Cattle Show is a five day festival held in Lahore during
the third week of November. This is an exciting pageant of Pakistani culture and
involves activities such as folk dancing, music, folk games and activities, cattle
racing and cattle dancing. With lots to do for children and adults alike, it is a much
adored festival.
Tourism:
The current situation of protests, agitation and sit-ins (dharnas) in the country
manifests that the crisis lies deep beneath the surface. After getting independence
from the British colonial Raj, Pakistan should have developed strong democratic
norms and development of inclusive political culture, but all this remained a distant
dream. Muslim League, the founding party, was a coterie of feudal elites of
particularly the areas included in the territories of today’s Pakistan. These people,
who had been loyalists to the British Raj for their vested interests, were ignorant of
the needs of the people. The British gave them various privileges in reward of the
services they performed for the Raj. The same continues till today as these people
are now called the winning horses of political parties in their respective
constituencies and all rival parties are ready to embrace them into their folds. These
winning horses are now such powerful that they have the capacity to manipulate the
whole electoral process; leaving no room for the poor classes to contest the elections.
The second most important factor behind country’s instability is the fear of Indian
domination which engulfed the country right after the Partition and played a key role
in turning Pakistan into a security state. The armed forces took it n themselves to
safeguard the ideological boundaries of the country besides defending its
geographical borders. The emergence of US-USSR Cold War provided the Pak
Army with an opportunity to equip itself with modern weaponry with the help of
American aid. And, with frequent involvement in matters falling in the domain of
political leadership, the institution became overwhelmingly powerful. In this way,
the men in uniform also learned the art of controlling the politicians which need
patronage to keep them in political power that is necessary for them to safeguard
their vested interests.
Military, thus, remained powerful during the civilian regimes and restricted the
civilian government to but a limited authority. Now, the situation is grave as, on the
one hand, if military has wielded enough power to out the civilian regimes, then
civilian institutions are corrupt as well as inept, on the other. It is due to this state
of affairs that a large segment of society is still deprived of even the basic amenities
of life. Poor governance under the guise of democracy has created a sense of
wariness among the people of Pakistan and this resentment can be instrumental to
toppling any so-called ‘democratic’ government.
This has rendered the people of Pakistan into a state of confusion as they sometimes
start appealing to the establishment to take over and sometimes an urge for
democracy take roots in their hearts. The confusion of the people is always cashed
in on by the political and military institutions. They remain unaware of their
democratic rights. That is why they, most of the times, are vulnerable to any
oppression by the ruling elite.
The military governments also used the democratic ways to get legitimized their
governments. They used the tool of people’s participation like referendum, elections,
particularly those for local bodies, to engage the people through the same political
actors. It may be deduced that political elites and army are the main shareholders of
powers both in military and civilian rule; the only difference being the percentage of
the share which changes with the regime change. The people of Pakistan under either
form of the government are at the losing end.
Now, the most pertinent question here is that as to how we can get out of this crisis.
The answer is simple: it is the political institutions that need to change their modus
operandi first as no democracy is fruitful without good governance. The first step
toward this process should be to use the policy of inclusiveness which means that all
the people of the country will enjoy the fruits of public service without any hindrance
and political interferences in the administrative matters. When all people share the
public resources, the feeling of alienation among the masses will be alleviated. The
civil service, which is corrupt from top to bottom and is politicized as well, needs
immediate reforms to be responsive, transparent and accountable.
Local government which is the most important part of a democratic setup remains
leashed during the political governments. Local government should be
institutionalized so that people may themselves solve their problems. Surprisingly,
it were the military regimes that gave due space to the local governments; and
probably one of the biggest reasons why people support military rule and remain
wary of political setups. Implementation of ADPs through federal and provincial
MPs is a wrong strategy and has always damaged the democratic process.
Pakistan relies heavily on foreign aid and loans and has miserably failed to develop
its own capital resources for development. The progressive direct taxation is only
solution to generate capital for development. Tax machinery needs a complete
overhaul in order to make it more efficient and transparent.
Education and health remain always neglected by the government. Public sector
health and educational institutions are very poor in terms of quality and standards
whereas those in the private sector are affordable to the rich only. Education sector,
in effect, is the manifestation of the class system that has permeated our society. The
need of the hour is to revamp the whole education system.
The role of military in civilian domain and foreign policy need major revisit. The
policy of having a peaceful neighborhood is in the interest of Pakistan.
The people of this ‘land of the pure’ are the ultimate losers in this scenario, as the
fruits of independence never reached to them. The time requires us to understand the
authority structure in Pakistan and give awareness and priority to the citizens of
Pakistan who are the real owners of this country.
Pakistan is faced with a multitude of challenges in the education sector. These can
be divided into quality (curriculum, teacher quality, learning environment,
assessment) and quantity (school availability, increased enrolment, infrastructure
and facilities, teacher availability). However, policymakers must prioritize the
following three actions to start fixing the broken education system in the country:
1. Break the nexus of local influentials-political parties-school teachers, who feed off
each other and gain power and financial benefits at the expense of school children.
2. Increase non-salary investments and direct them into school infrastructure,
including school buildings, electricity, drinking water and availability of toilets
and sanitation facilities, to foster a fertile learning environment for children.
South Asia has always been a source of strategic and economic attraction for regional
and international powers. From ancient Central Asian invaders and medieval
Muslim conquerors to European colonizers, this resource-rich region has assumed
irreversible significance even in the modern era. For instance, during the Cold War
period, the capitalist world under the leadership of the US, and the communist bloc
led by the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) sought to win allies in
modern South Asia. Little wonder then, post-partition India, ensconced in the
Nehruvian understanding of global capital and politics, opted to apparently stay non-
aligned. However, the Indian state, in real terms, could not hide its socialist
inclinations that were only to be thwarted during the 1962 Indo-Sino war. On the
other hand, Pakistan, from very early on, chose to ally with the US and its allies.
Pakistan’s strategic vision was largely shaped by the individual, if not institutional,
socialization of its first generation political and bureaucratic (both civil and military)
leaderships.
Beside India and Pakistan, Afghanistan has also been an active actor in regional
politics. Indeed, since the Czarist days, Russians looked to Afghanistan for strategic,
political and economic penetration inside South Asia and beyond. Moreover, the
modern Indian state viewed Afghanistan as a potential source to make inroads into
Central Asia along with the containment of Islamic Pakistan. Paradoxically,
Afghanistan declined to recognise Pakistan as a sovereign and independent state in
1947, more on account of its nationalistic aspirations than any conspiracy theory.
However, once grounded in the Afghan state mentality, mutual distrust further grew,
especially during the 1970s.
The following decade did bring Pakistan almost into mainstream Afghanistan
strategically, economically and even politically. The US and the USSR fought the
final round of the Cold War, which ended in the withdrawal of Soviet troops from
Afghanistan. In the post-Cold War period, South Asian politics and economy were
greatly influenced by political and strategic developments that engulfed the poor and
war-ravaged country. By and large, there is now a consensus among the scholarly
and political communities that Washington’s engagement level with Afghanistan
was much lower during the nineties. By default, this provided an opportunity to both
Pakistan and India, along with other regional stakeholders such as Iran and China,
to make and maintain a strategic presence inside Afghanistan. The so-called strategic
depth doctrine can be seen in this respect. Unsurprisingly then, Pakistan became one
of the three states to recognise the establishment of an Islamic state by the Taliban
in 1996. Afghanistan’s neighbours, especially Iran and India, viewed the Taliban
government in oppositional terms. The US, which was least interested in the strategic
game in South Asia, became the topmost stakeholder not only in South Asia but also
Afghanistan in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. ‘Either with or against us’ was the
communicated policy of the US to bring a strategic paradigm shift in South Asia.
Acting very rationally, Musharraf-led Pakistan saw more benefits than cost in
cooperation with the global superpower. This apparent policy shift on the part of the
Pakistani security establishment gave birth to concepts such as soft strategic depth,
which believed in cooperation with western powers, the Taliban and the like
simultaneously. Moreover, regional actors, India in particular, also sought to
cultivate the Afghan power elite in the hopes of building a long-term relationship
based on mutual exchange of views and products. Iran and China also became alert
given their security and commercial concerns. In other words, since the replacement
of the Taliban-led Islamic state with the Karzai-led nation state, international and
regional actors engaged each other in a constant game of strategic, political and
socio-economic influence building. Collectively, the US played the role of an
arbitrator and financer of such activism. Afghanistan and Pakistan were the chief
beneficiaries, at least economically. Nevertheless, Pakistan did face the human and
infrastructural cost of the conflict but this is largely because of our ambiguous
strategic policy for the South Asian region.
Now that the US has already pursued its (partial) withdrawal policy, the political and
strategic situation that Afghanistan and South Asia are likely to face demands our
serious attention. How will Ghani-Abdullah-led Afghanistan rebuild itself? What
role can the US and its NATO allies play in this respect? How are Russian and China
viewing the political change in Kabul? Is Pakistan going to fully support the new
political setup? Will India agree to Pakistan’s role in the reconstruction of
Afghanistan? What role can be played by Iran? These are some of the relevant
questions that need to be addressed by policymakers, academics, etc. More
importantly, owing to its involvement in Afghanistan’s internal matters, Pakistan, at
this critical juncture, needs to decide for its own larger interests whether it has
concluded a meaningful revisit of its strategic vision of South Asia and the world
around it. In this respect, the recent public statements by the former army chief
(Pervez Musharraf) and the serving army chief (Raheel Sharif) merit attention. The
former lamented the recognition of the Taliban government by the Pakistan state
whereas General Raheel Sharif, while referring to Pakistan’s efforts in the war on
terror, argued that “the enemy lives within us and looks like us”.
One wonders why the former general was criticised by the US and others for playing
a dual policy with respect to the Taliban whose government was recognised by the
Pakistan military. Why did he not realise the flaws in the recognition policy when
he was ruling the roost? General Raheel Sharif’s statement can be contextualised in
his recent visit to the US. Pakistan’s role in Afghanistan, if not in South Asia, has
been termed as a “binding force” by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).
Monetary assistance assured the other day, under the terms of the Coalition Support
Fund, is still conditional. This, in the view of Dr Ehsan Ahrari, who has advised the
Obama Administration on Pakistan and Afghanistan to the fact that the US is still
not clear and satisfied with the strategic policy of the Pakistani security
establishment. By default, this also complicates the debate on the strategic paradigm
shift in South Asia. In order to be revered regionally and globally, this is the time
Pakistan should engage itself in a serious debate on its grand policy.