Pakistan’s Foreign Policy: 1947-2020… Success or a Failure?

Pakistan’s Foreign Policy: 1947-2020… Success or a Failure?

Pakistan came into being on 14th August 1947, with the efforts of Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah and other leaders of the Independence Movement. It was a dream of Allama Iqbal, which came true. The dream of Mr Iqbal was that Muslims should have a separate Muslim state, based on the principles of Islam. The Muslims struggled hard to get this nation, and Allah Almighty gifted the Muslims the fruit of their struggle in 1947, 7 years after the Lahore Resolution of 1940. 

Before the partition of India, we were under British rule for a century, and they ruled this subcontinent as if the people living here were their slaves. However, at last, after the 3 June plan, it was decided that all Muslim majority areas would go to Pakistan, and all Hindu majority areas would go to India (Hindustan). However, the first biggest blunder was the Radcliffe Award, which the British and Indian National Congress did with our newly created country, and hence, that proved to be disastrous for the subcontinent to date. This Radcliffe Award, gave the Muslim majority areas of Ferozpur and Gurdaspur, thus paving India’s way to Kashmir. And Kashmir still remains a reason for harsh relations between Pakistan and India. Pakistan and India have gone to wars on this Kashmir issue, the first one in 1948, 1965 and 1999. Both countries still have hostile relations, as India is using all methods to destabilize Pakistan. 

After the creation of Pakistan, Quaid-e-Azam, the Founder of Pakistan, became the 1st Governor-General, and told the world, that Pakistan’s Foreign Policy is with peace, He gave his Foreign Policy Statement on 15th August 1947, saying, 

“Our objective should be peace within and peace without. We want to live peacefully and maintain cordial and friendly relations with our immediate neighbours and with the world at large. We have no aggressive designs against anyone. We stand by the United Nations Charter and will gladly make our contribution to the peace and prosperity of the world.” 

When Pakistan came into being, there was an ongoing Cold War between the socialist and the capitalist blocs, since the end of World War II in 1945, and after the differences of Stalin, Attlee and Truman at the Potsdam Conference. So, Pakistan had to join either of the blocs, and Pakistan chose to side with the USA. Joining this bloc, proved at times useful, but it also proved to be useless at times. 

In my opinion, Pakistan should have remained neutral, but still, the relations with the USA showed success in the early years of Pakistan. Our relations with the neighbours such as Afghanistan and India were hostile, as Afghanistan was the only country to oppose Pakistan’s entry into the UN. India still remains on bad terms with Pakistan. 

Our foreign policy, during Ayub Khan’s tenure, was good with the allies such as the USA ( because the USA was taking benefits from Pakistan during the Cold War in the 1960s). Our relations with the Arabs also remained good during his tenure, however, not so good with the Soviets, and thus the Indians, as India went to war with Pakistan during his tenure. However, during Ayub Khan’s tenure, Pakistan was developing very fast and all eyes were on Pakistan, but the 1965 war proved not a good sign for Pakistan, because of the Tashkent Agreement, which was hosted by the Soviets. This spread outrage in Pakistan, and even the then Foreign Minister Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, opposed his President, eventually leading to the formation of a new political party, Pakistan Peoples’ Party (PPP), in which many people, who supported socialism, came in, and Bhutto, initially a landlord, had to implement socialism. He got good relations with the Soviets when he came into power. 

However, a failure in our foreign policy was the Fall of Dhaka, in 1971, after a war with India, in which India trained Mukti Bahini, a force that fought against their own army in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh). This was a moment of failure for the country when 90,000 of our troops were taken as Prisoners of War, only returned after Simla Agreement, due to diplomacy of Mr Bhuto, however, still, it was a failure for our country and should have been handled in a very better way, and the government should have saved Dhaka from falling into the hands of rebellions. 

However, the successful foreign policy of Mr Bhutto was the holding of the 2nd OIC Summit in Lahore, in which Heads of State of Muslim countries such as Shah Faisal (Kingdom of Saudi Arabia), Col Gaddafi ( Libya, Yasser Arafat (Palestine), and others. This conference seemed to be very successful for the Muslim world including Pakistan, as the Muslim World was heading for a new Muslim bloc amidst the Cold War going on between the Socialists and the Capitalists. This step was not applauded by The Western World, especially the USA. And eventually, this ended in the assassination of the leaders who attended the conference. In my opinion, the CIA was behind all these assassinations. Mr Bhutto was sentenced to death on a false case, under the pressure of the Military dictator Mr Zia ul Haq.

After Mr Zia ul Haq overthrew Mr Bhutto’s government, our policy was more inclined towards the USA because of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, in which the USA trained the Taliban to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan, plus provided military and economic aid to Pakistan. During Mr Zia’s time, the Afghan War turned to be very crucial for the region, and millions of refugees poured into Pakistan from Afghanistan. They brought Kalashnikov Culture here into Pakistan, which ultimately led to a bad effect on Pakistan’s society. Hence, in my opinion, Pakistan’s stance was right in preventing the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, but in the long run, it had a serious impact on our society as a whole. And then, in 1988, the Ojhri Khurd Explosion, in which almost 93 people were dead and nearly 1100 were wounded, the incident was that the US provided arms and ammunition, that was stored in the depot in Rawalpindi, exploded. The responsibility is still unsure, some say, it was done by the CIA, while some American sources say, it was done by the pro-Soviet government in Afghanistan. But still, in my opinion, it was not in favour of our country. The US always took benefits from Pakistan, and when it was done, they would just throw us away like tissue paper, and here it was a failure at our end too. Our diplomacy wasn’t strong enough, and due to the Taliban and all those Afghan Muhajireen, our image in the world was not positive. And that eventually led to a suspected air crash death of Mr Zia. 

With the death of Mr Zia, Pakistan again came back into the hands of politicians, this time Benazir Bhutto, being the first female Prime Minister of Pakistan, thus a new image of Pakistan created in the world, however, the foreign relations were balanced. Though during her tenure, the then DGMO, Major-Gen Pervez Musharraf held secret talks with Israeli authorities, it was unsuccessful, as Pakistan’s stance is very strong on the Palestine issue. Her government made good relations with other countries such as communist Vietnam. Soon, in 1990, when the President of Pakistan, exercising his rights according to Article 58 (ii)(b) of the Constitution of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, dismissed her government, after which Nawaz Sharif came into power. He was a conservative politician and implemented his ideology. 

Overall, during the 90s the major development as far as our foreign policy is concerned that, despite pressures from the outside world, the government and the establishment did not stop the nuclear project. And turning into the first Muslim nuclear country, was a big challenge, and the credit goes to the Pakistan Army. However, the Pressler Amendment in Benazir’s second tenure was a big blow to Pakistan. 

Well, in my opinion, Pakistan’s foreign policy in the 1990s, remained fair enough, even the Lahore Declaration 1998, when the India Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee came to Lahore on Dosti Bus Service, to meet the then Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif, and they were close enough to agree on Kashmir issue, but the Kargil Conflict in 1999, overturned it. However, on 12th October 1999, Pakistan was again taken over by the Cheif of Army Staff Gen Pervez Musharraf, overthrowing Mr Sharif’s government. 

Soon, in the early years of his rule, in 2001, the famous incident of 9/11 took place, which completely changed the scenario of the world. After that incident, President Bush of the US demanded Pakistan to help them in the War on Terror, and I think it was a very wrong decision, as Pakistan had nothing to do with the incident, but still, Pakistan had to suffer a lot. Mr Imran Khan, the current Prime Minister of Pakistan, said at that time, that war is not the solution in Afghanistan, but people called him Taliban Khan, but later, now the world acknowledges him about his stance on War on Terror, but during that decade, our foreign policy was on a decline, as Pakistan had joined the war on terror, and militancy had increased in Pakistan because War in Afghanistan had direct consequences on Pakistan, hence, in my opinion, it wasn’t handled well, and that Pakistan should have put up a strong stance in front of the world instead of giving away to the demands of the Americans. Nawaz Sharif and Benazir Bhutto were in exile and had come back after an NRO (National Reconciliation Ordinance), after which they were allowed to do politics here. In 2008, President Musharraf resigned, and the PPP government came into power, 3 months after the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. With PPP in government and Asif Ali Zardari, husband of the ex-PM Benazir Bhutto became President and started off with his policies. 

This tenure was full of corrupt politicians, hence making a bad image in the world. Our foreign policy was constantly in decline due to bad handling, but some successes do exist in all governments, but in my opinion, Mr Shah Mehmood Qureshi, the foreign minister then, had done a great effort for good relations with the world, but since our image had been so bad in the world. 

However, after their government ended after 5 years, Nawaz Sharif got elected as the Prime Minister once again, for the third time. He worked for good relations with India, by going to India on the oath-taking ceremony of Narendra Modi (Indian PM). But a major problem with his government was that he had not appointed a Foreign Minister, because he wanted to keep all powers in hand, and spent a lavish lifestyle. He had many successes as far as foreign policy is concerned, but he didn’t speak anything about the human rights violations in Kashmir. In my opinion, the mistake of not appointing a Foreign Minster and making personal business relations with other countries was a downfall in our foreign policy, which ultimately led to Pakistan’s isolation. our relations with countries such as UAE got worse. Our country had a foreign debt, since these PPP, and PML(N) governments. I personally do not agree with his foreign policy. Nawaz Sharif was disqualified by the Supreme Court on the Panama Papers, and Shahid Khaqan Abbasi became PM, but he continued with the same Nawaz Sharif policies, but after 4 years, Pakistan finally had a foreign minister. 

A great step was the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) with China, as our relations with China have always been amazing, as it has been a time-tested friend. Our relations with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Iran, are also great and we hope that they remain good as long as in the best interest of Pakistan

In 2018, Pakistan got a new leadership under the former cricket captain of the World Cup-winning Pakistan team in 1992, Imran Khan, with his party Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf. I agree with his foreign policy because he said there is no military solution in Afghanistan, and now President Trump of the US acknowledges that plus Pakistan’s good diplomacy has internationalized the Kashmir issue, and our relations which got sour in the previous years now have got better. pakistan’s stance on Israel is great, our relations with countries are now based on equality and not on “DO MORE”. So, I personally agree with Mr Imran Khan’s foreign policy. A great step was the CPEC (China Pakistan Economic Corridor) with China, as our relations with China have always been amazing, as it has been a time-tested friend. Our relations with Saudi Arabia and Turkey, as well as Iran, are also great and we hope that they remain good as long as in the best interest of Pakistan

Hence, concluding, Pakistan in the past 73 years have experienced many ups and downs in foreign relations, but they remained fair, however, in some cases we have experienced bad relations with countries, but I do not solely blame our politicians, but also other countries as well. I think that there is much to be done, we need to tell the world about Kashmir, which Mr Khan is doing very nicely, and make the world understand the sensitivity of the issue. Our stance on Palestine is also clear, and then our Founder’s policy of peace and prosperity must prevail. We must always support peace and prosperity. May Allah Almighty bless our Nation. Ameen

PAKISTAN ZINDABAD!!!

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Disclaimer: The article is solely based on the author’s own opinion, you can agree or disagree with us.

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