Staff Reporter
Vice President PPP and Chairperson of Foreign Affairs Committee in Senate, Senator Sherry Rehman on Tuesday said “There should be no doubt in anyone’s mind that this issue will impact Pakistan hard in more critical ways than one.
Pakistan has the highest stakes in peace in Afghanistan, but the geo-politics of escalating violence next door indicates that peace may be much further than imagined.
Talking to journalists on the rapidly evolving situation in Afghanistan, she said in this scenario, clear, focused policy-making at home will have far-reaching consequences for the security, stability and economic health of the country.
“Clarity and consensus are needed for any foreign policy to be successful, especially if policy agendas are focused on protecting a country’s interests and people, which involves managing competing interests and ideas.
Why should Pakistan be different?” she asked, saying that “in times of crisis, leadership is crucial to policy formation as well as its smart articulation.
Unfortunately, at key inflection points for the country, the Prime Minister, who should have the convening power, and accompanying goodwill, to craft unity and consensus via political parties and parliaments is absent.
It’s as if he feels he can outsource vital decisions that will test Pakistan, to other cabinet members and the security community, who should not have to go it alone when trying to chart a way forward for the country in the institutional vacuum he has created in Pakistan.
