Discuss pros and cons of Current Foreign Policy of PTI.

Support your
answers in light of International affairs.

Pros and Cons of Current Foreign Policy of PTI:

It has been three years now since the PTI government came into power. So it’s a relative
short period of time for the PTI to be in power as compared to the other political parties of
Pakistan which came into power in past years. The PTI government promised in their election
speeches that they will not go to the IMF but still PTI government can’t escape from genuine
flak for the economic policies which they did not take so seriously at the start and later on had
to give in to economic pressure by first going to International Monetary Fund for bailout
package about which they earlier promised they would not go for it and later on presenting the
most oppressive budget for fiscal year 2019-20.

The other thing for which PTI government should be credited is successful tour of Prime
Minister Imran Khan’s first official visit to the United States. PM Khan’s address at the Capital
Arena prior to meeting with the US President Donald Trump where he was welcomed by a
record gathering of Pakistani expatriates was an excellent projection of Pakistan to the outside
world. The address topped Twitter trends not in Pakistan but across the globe. For the first
time, it seemed like Pakistan has got a leader who is popularly followed from hearts by masses
and who, despite all the odds in front of incumbent PTI government, believe that the man at
the helm will turn the tide. People have not still given up on PM Khan and this is what he
assures in his speeches like the way he did in the US address and hopefully he will put an end to
the skepticism Pakistanis have about their leaders who always promise for change but nobody
has so far turned any promise into reality.

While I personally think PM Khan’s tour to the US was diplomatically successful. Getting
an affirmation from the US for Pakistan with respect to Afghanistan has these years turned into
a luxury. Hardly, the US has ever acknowledged Pakistan’s positive efforts for peace accord to
be developed between Taliban and Afghan government and many a times Pakistan has got ‘Do
More” mantra from the US side. However, this time, though the US still asked that Pakistan
needed to improve its efforts for rooting out extremism yet it said that Pakistan had played a
significant role for peace in Afghanistan. Some critics of Khan says that the US
acknowledgement of Pakistan’s overtures for peace in Afghanistan is not Khan’s magic rather
the statement is more driven by the circumstances as the US is in desperate need to make an
exit from Afghanistan and currently it wants to be on good terms with Pakistan. You can see it
from any perspective but currently it’s Khan-led Pakistan that has got an affirmation from the
US. The affirmation is not symbolic in its essence rather it’s a message to the world at large that
Pakistan is a peaceful country and believes in peaceful Afghanistan. Unfortunately,
misperceptions abound that instability in Afghanistan is because of Pakistan’s manipulation
keeping in view its geographical proximity and political bonhomie in the past.

The other diplomatic success that Pakistan achieved through PM Khan’s visit, I think, is
the way Kashmir issue made its way to global spotlight during Khan-Trump meeting. The
projection of Kashmir issue remained in Pakistan’s favor this time as the US president, while
acknowledging the burning nature of the issue, offered to mediate Kashmir dispute between
Pakistan and India. This is diplomatic milestone for Pakistan in the sense that Pakistan has for
quite some time not made any breakthrough with respect to Kashmir issue diplomatically.
Every time, the issue of Kashmir surfaces, instead of analyzing the nature of the issue
objectively, the issue gets shrouded in the allegations of Pakistan’s militant groups behind the
rising provocation among Kashmir’s against Indian state. Trump’s offer for mediation clearly
reflects that the US takes the issue as human rights violation issue and thinks that there is a
need to free billions of people held hostage between India and Pakistan

I think the PTI government has lead the Kashmir issue and the Palestine issue on
international level quite well. The Kashmir issue was discussed in the Security Council almost
after 40 years in the PTI regime. The PTI government has these two issues on many
international forums and asked the world leaders to sort out the issues. PTI government has
also highlighted the issue of islamophobia on international level during in his speech in the
Security Council.
 Another impressive thing happen in PTI regime is the acceleration in CPEC Project. The
developments in Gwadar for the CPEC projects are very impressive and will gave a boost to our
country's economy in future. And due to this collaboration between Pakistan and China under
the CPEC project, Pak China relation will get stronger.

Overall the current foreign policy of Pakistan is getting on to the right direction as
compared to the previous governments policies but still more firm policies and steps are
required to get stable and strong relations with other countries around the world.