PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s SCO summit inaugural address, Oct 16, 2024, covering all geo-econo-politico-environmental imperatives constitute a timely powerful call to the SCO forum partners to inject added verve into the all-agreed SCO agenda of action; PM’s address indeed raises Pakistan’s meaningful international image as a nation committed to peace, security, friendliness, innovation-and-cooperation-ready country; his call to international community to help stabilize Afghanistan’s economic position, highlighting Afghanistan’s geo-status as regional trade and connectivity hub needs to be thankfully acknowledged by the Kabul government.
Afghanistan itself did not attend the SCO meet but has found in PM Shehbaz’s cooperative call a powerful sympathizer and helpful contributor towards the needs of that much crises-afflicted country, immediate neighbour of Pakistan, Iran and Central Asia. I think Afghan govt should heartfully own the debt of liberal gratitude from Pakistan.
Global geo-preferences are being recast at the international level; constraints are being rewoven from 100 pc political mindedness; the world is moving towards economic vibrancy as need of the hour as well as of a confident future. Pakistan must be noting this newest trend and push; Afghan crises had contributed worst woes to the state and people of Pakistan being Afghanistan’s contiguity neighbour; Pakistan hosted millions of displaced Afghans despite bearing own economic pressures; even today Afghans are liberal beneficiaries of Pakistan’s fraternal hospitality; this liberality must reflect in the policies and priorities of the Kabul government; Pakistan-Afghans brotherliness must be upped by every bilateral regional action.
There are still much lessons for Pakistan to learn; to my view prime priority for Pakistan’s brighter future is in improving regional neighbourliness; nations whose neighbourhoods are tension-free court progress across all directions confidently and unchecked by any human delivered calamity; domestic calmness is absolute urgency for letting in external investments; almost all sectors of national economy of Pakistan need investments from pro-Pakistan international aid agencies and capitals; common sense repeats the fact time and again that electricity is the soul and spirit of industrial viability and growth; unfortunately power sector stands mismanaged to the detriment of Pakistan’s economic health.
This fact – ill managed power sector -has also been highlighted in its latest report by the World Bank. Question arises, why do we fail at every critical moment to rectify our own internal kitchenette cutlery? IPPs inducted in the year 1992 and 1994 in Pakistan played havoc with the industrial and domestic life of Pakistan; now they are blackmailing the state of Pakistan to enter into international arbitration if any changes with their fleecing status is effected in Pakistan; straight question! what Pakistan gained from such IPPs, not pro-Pakistan? Who is inevitably most important state of Pakistan or IPPs? Crookedness must be corrected sooner than later.
—The writer, a retired Secretary in AJK Govt, is a senior columnist, based in Rawalpindi.
