Pakistan's national interest

Brookings Institute which defines it in the following way:

“What a nation feels to be necessary to its security and wellbeing … National interest reflects
the general and continuing ends for which a nation acts.”

National Defence University (NDU), Islamabad, Pakistan. National interests are the most important
wants and needs of a nation. At the highest level of abstraction, national interests are the
“wellspring” from which national objectives, policy and strategy flow. The overriding national
interests are normally stated in terms of national survival, national identity and well being.
Preservation of territorial integrity, freedom, independence, socio-political institutions and honour are
fundamental to the survival of a nation (defined by NDU for academic purposes).

Methods for the Promotion of National-Interests

There are soft and hard ways by which a nation can boost its national interest.
The soft ways are by making of alliance and diplomacy while the hard ways
include the economic sanction or use of physical force out rightly.  

Alliance
The alliance means providing mutual military support between two or more
sovereign states to defend their national interests. The defence pacts in the
era of the cold war for example NATO, WARSA Pact, SEATO, CENTO, MEDO
etc. were military associations against the growth of communism. The alliance
is concluded not only to supplement the national armed forces but also for the
advancement and cooperation in other fields. After the Second World War, the
economic regional alliance has also been established by states to upgrade
economic interests.
Diplomatic Negotiations
Diplomacy is the art of negotiation. It is one of the tools by which a state
encourages its national interests. Usually, diplomatic negotiations are
conducted when interests of dissimilar states conflict or differ and prepared to
accept view through “mutual give and take” basis. Economic and some
political interest are promoted through mutual negotiations.   

The diplomatic negotiation method shows successful only when the interests
of countries are balancing and not conflicting. The main cause is that in the
wake of conflict of interests no country is ready to give up anything and the
basis of negotiations i.e., “give and take” dies itself. One of the examples of
the diplomatic negotiations on Kashmir between India and Pakistan.   

Forced Measures
Forced measures are also adopted to guard and promote the national
interests of the country. There are two types of forced measure, soft and hard.
The soft measures include non-intercourse, embargo, boycotts, retaliation and
reprisal, severance of diplomatic relations etc. the hard measures include war
and another form of application of physical forces, for example, terrorism and
support to guerrilla war.

The experience has shown that when a state fails to protect its national
interests through soft measures, it does not hesitate to go towards war for the
same purpose.  

Restriction on National Interests 

All over the world, every state guards its national-interests. Because of the
anarchical nature of the international system. There is no lawful authority
which can execute restriction upon any country. Thus, when a country cannot
encourage and guard its national interests in a smooth way for example
through diplomatic channels, it resorts to forced method i.e., to go to war. As
there is no regular way to harmonize national interests of dissimilar states,
every state chases its national interests without any consideration of principles
and legal standards.  

There is no doubt that there is no appropriate organ, institution or way which

may impose a restriction upon a state while chasing national interest, yet none
dare to go in its way. There are specific restrictions which a state cannot
ignore while chasing their national-interest. Let’s discuss these in detail.

1. While preparing a foreign policy to guard national interests, a state cannot

ignore its domestic social environment. it should take into consideration all the
interests of the sub-cultural groups of minorities and other pressure groups.

2. The state should keep in mind the current structure of the international
system while promoting and shielding its national interests. No country can
ignore the political environment of the international system while chasing its
national-interest. The dissimilar international system for example balance of
power, bipolar system, etc. implement dissimilar restrictions on a state and
avoid it to go in its way.
3. No state can ignore standards of international morals while chasing its
national-interest. International society is ruled by specific rules which
implement specific restrictions on a country.

4. The opinion of the world’s public is still another restriction on a state which
it must take into consideration while chasing its national interests. There is no
doubt, a country has specific selfish interests, yet no state would often pursue
them in violation of world public opinion.

5. The international law is still another restriction which a state faces while
chasing national interests. With the development of international law, more
and more state behaviour is maintained through the rules and regulations.
Thus, a country has to act under specific rules and regulation in the world
society which implement restriction on her to chase its selfish and narrow
national interests.

6. The international organizations such as the United Nations Organization

are also a bar on the persuasion of a country of its national-interests. The
shared safety system of the UNO avoids any country to resort to spreading on
the physical force while chasing its national-interest. If a state accepts
aggression, it is striking back mutually under the umbrella of UNO. Thus, no
state can ignore this world organization, its charter, rules and principles while
preparing its policies to defend the national interest.  

Pakistan’s national interest

Territorial Integrity and National Sovereignty:

There cannot be two opinions on the overriding importance of ensuring its territorial
integrity and preserving its national sovereignty in its formulation of national interest. In
order to exist as an independent, sovereign nation state, Pakistan has been trying to achieve
the following four objectives

1. Maintaining a well-trained and well equipped defense forces by providing

them state of the art training and equipping them with modern weaponry.
2. Building a credible indigenous defense armaments capability to attain self-
sufficiency in the production of conventional arms and ammunitions
3. Acquiring an effective nuclear, strategic and tactical, capability to
compensate it for the lack of adequate strategic depth and comparatively
inadequate resources against its adversary.
4. Cultivating friendly relations with China and the Muslim Block to help it
with the requisite diplomatic support in case of external aggression
That is why we have been cultivating friendly relations with those countries, capable of
meeting our defence needs. Joining American-sponsored defence pacts like SEATO and
CENTO and concluding Mutual Defence Pact with the USA in the 1950s by Pakistan was
precisely for this reason. When USA imposed an embargo on supply of military equipment
during 1965 War with India, Pakistan had no option but to court China. At the same time,
Pakistan has been maintaining friendly relations with its neighbours and the Muslim
countries for diplomatic support in case of external aggression.

Economic Well-being of the People:

Ensuring that the country has the necessary wherewithal to improve the quality of life of the
common citizens by meeting their basic needs at affordable cost has been the second most
important component of the national interest formulated by the state of Pakistan. A state
which cannot meet the basic needs of the people loses its legitimacy, resulting in existential
threat for the country itself. History is replete with instances of states breaking due to
economic shortfalls. After all, one of the main reasons for the breakup of former USSR was
its inability to provide its citizens with the basic goods of daily use. For this purpose,
Pakistan has been trying to achieve the following four objectives

1. Achieving a sustainable and inclusive growth whose gains are distributed

equitably among all the regions of the country and all the sections of the
society.
2. Access to foreign markets not only to ensure un-interrupted supply of
essential resources including technology but also to sell its exportable
surplus at competitive rates
3. Attracting Foreign Direct investment to develop it human and natural
resources, modernization of its economy and upscaling its technology base.
4. Obtaining foreign economic assistance from bilateral or multilateral sources
to bridge the resource gap
Internal Stability and Cohesion:

Pakistan was a 5000 years old society and 150 years old nation when it came into existence
as an independent nation- state on 14th of August 1947 after the dissolution of British
Indian Empire. Newly carved out state contained 5 major and more than 12 minor
nationalities which no doubt had successfully launched a movement for the creation of an
independent nation-state of their own but was a far cry from calling itself a one nation.
Consequently, nation building has been one of the biggest challenges facing Pakistan since
its creation 70 years ago. For this purpose, it has four objectives;

1. Formulating a shared vision of a just and prosperous Pakistan enshrined in

a duly formulated with consensus and formally approved constitution
 2. Ensuring that this shared vision is implemented by well-functioning vibrant
institutions to create stakes for everyone to feel satisfied in a united, federal
Pakistan.
3. Mainstreaming the marginalized sections and disgruntled elements of
society by ensuring good governance at different levels of interaction and
taking affirmative action on selective basis where needed
4. Strengthening the democratic process by promoting true political culture
(of tolerance and accommodation), strengthening its democratic structures
(of parliaments, election commissions,) and letting the various democratic
processes (of holding elections at federal, provincial and local levels)
continue uninterruptedly
Regional Peace and stability:

While reserving its right to defend its territorial integrity and national sovereignty, Pakistan,
being a peace loving nation-state, acting responsibly in global and regional affairs, believes
in peaceful coexistence. Consequently, regional peace is the cornerstone of Pakistan’s
national interest for which it has four objectives

1. Eliminating the safe havens of terrorists created by the footloose/state

sponsored terrorist’s outfits within the country
2. Striving for the establishment of a broad-based government in Afghanistan
which could end its decades long civil war paving way for the return of
millions of Afghan refugees living in Pakistan for the last quarter of a
century.
3. Working with the Afghan government to ensure3 that stop the terrorists
using Afghanistan as a base for launching of terrorist attacks inside
Pakistan.
4. Maintaining of good neighbourly relations with all the regional countries in
general and with India in particular to ensure that the terrorists do not get
financial, material and diplomatic support
In order to safeguard its national interest, a state formulates a comprehensive national
policy consisting of host of social, economic and political policies and related strategies to
achieve the various objectives set under the above mentioned four components of the
National Interests. Foreign policy is a part and parcel of this national policy which is
formulated to achieve the objectives set to safeguard its national interest.

Evolution of National Interest of Pakistan

a. Pakistan's primary interest was to remain independent and viable in the face of a
much larger and powerful neighbor.
b. The nation then adopted several other goals;
 i. the struggle of Kashmir to join Pakistan - or become independent from
India;
ii. a friendly and cooperative Afghanistan to ensure strategic depth vis-a-
vis India ;
iii. close relations with Saudi Arabia representing a religious socio-
economic nexus of interests;
iv. affirming itself as a front-line state of the religiously tolerant West
pitted against a God-less USSR.
c. Whilst Pakistan's role as a front line state was galvanized and pivotal during the
Russian invasion of Afghanistan, it became ambiguous and anachronistic in the new
world order.
d. Pakistan immediately bolstered its relationship with China, that it had been
developing over many years after the Sino-Soviet split in the seventies as US
strengthened its ties with India.
e. The end of the cold war and the abandonment by the US and its allies of Afghanistan,
and Pakistan, forced the latter to initiate a plan of action
f. It combined its policy objectives of maintaining strategic depth in Afghanistan; in
accordance with its military doctrine of riposte vis-a-vis its arch enemy India, and
close ties with Saudi Arabia
g. Thus enabling the Taliban to become pervasively established, and receiving Saudi
largesse to finance it all, resulting in the eventual dominance of the Taliban in
Afghanistan.
h. America had ignored and distanced itself from all Saudi-Pakistani action in
Afghanistan from 1991 until the late 90's until the emergence of wahabist-jihadists,
Al-Qaeda.
i. The test came when, after 9/11, Pakistan had to choose between its interests in
maintaining the Taliban in Afghanistan and that of the US, where the latter's objective
was to oust the government that had provided a safe haven to the alleged perpetrators
of 9/11.
j. Apparently, Pakistan had to forego its interest and bow to US demands, furtively,
however, this did not prove to be the case as the War on Terror developed.
k. After the war had begun, a paradigm shift took place, during the decade, several
attacks and assaults began targeting Pakistan and its armed forces along with Afghan
Taliban. Once NATO's ISAF and other US troops arrived Pakistan had to recalibrate
its policy in Afghanistan.

It follows that the country's prime interest, that of Security, is not "secure," that its other
interests such as a stable and friendly Afghanistan, self-determination of Kashmir, its
economic stability, are failing and under attack from exogenous forces."
Policy framework for securing national interests (Pak affairs book page 206)
According to Morgenthau:

“Objectives of a foreign policy must be defined in terms of the national interest.”

A country’s foreign policy consists of self-interest strategies chosen by the state to safeguard its national interests
and to achieve its own goals through relations with other countries. The approaches are employed strategically to
interact with other countries. For example, the US foreign policy has an aggressive posture towards oil-rich states
because her national interest. Contrarily, the Chinese foreign policy is based on soft diplomacy; mutual cooperation
and accommodationist behaviour