Disclaimer | This thread is strictly for academic/hypothetical discussion only.
Introduction.
Most of Pakistan's security related issues are a product of our will to 'volunteer' ourselves for every Muslim cause on planet earth, especially in our own region. Most terrorist organizations in Pakistan today started abroad and we allowed them to flourish in Pakistan in the name of 'help'. I-e The Mujahideen, The Taliban were
Afghans, Lashkar e Taiba and Hizb ul mujahideen were
Kashmiri organizations - we even went as far as sheltering PLO the
Palestinian organization.
We have turned ourselves into mercenaries who fight for 'other people' and their freedoms. We fought for Afghans,Kashmiris,Somalis,Saudis,Jordanians,Egyptians,Iraqis,Syrians,Bosnians,Kosovites - It had nothing to do with Pakistan. The most depressing lesson is that
they don't even know our name. So i feel obliged to ask the question, 'why do it' ?
Here are a few ideas i am presenting to you guys to discuss and give me your responses. The ideas i think will help Pakistan in its security conundrum as well as help us establish peace in Pakistan. Dear friends, you must understand that Pakistan is in a
state of survival - therefore drastic steps would have to be made.
This hypothesis bases itself on the sense of security generated out of our Nuclear deterrent, which i believe gives us time to look away from outside and look inwards.
1: 'Quit Afghanistan | Strategic depth is dead'
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, is a thing of the past. USSR is dead, now if Russians invade again, they would have to invade many C.Asian countries before they get to Pakistan. Moreover in regards to India, Pakistan has nuclear weapons and if our existence is threatened we can vaporise them in response. Therefore they won't mount an invasion of Pakistan, therefore the strategic depth is not needed, therefore Afghanistan is now irrelevant to our strategic calculus as far as a scenario of Indian invasion is concerned.
We should stop ALL interventions in Afghan affairs, allow India to have the transit to Afghanistan and Afghanistan to India
in return of full recognition of the Durand line from Afghanistan, and Indian assurances to not using Afghan soil for destabilizing Pakistan. Pakistan should refrain from Afghan affairs, altogether. We should
NEVER help them EVER again in case of another invasion, let them fend for themselves. Should the worst case scenario of a hostile Afghanistan and a hostile India at the same time arise, we should focus all of our military assets to defend ourselves through a concentrated effort.
2: 'Referendum in Azad Kashmir'
Imagine if we liberate Kashmir through a military invasion from India. Then we conduct a free and fair referendum in Kashmir. If you are thinking that they will opt for joining Pakistan, you are wrong. Kashmiris will have no regard for Pakistani help, we will be taken for granted and Kashmiris will instead opt for an independent nation. Kashmir counts for 90% of our international diplomatic and security related problems, despite our best efforts we cannot 'win' as the great Muslim liberator as we hope to be.
I suggest, we should conduct a referendum in Azad Kashmir with following choices.
1: Join Pakistan formally - support Pakistani efforts to turn LOC into an international border with India.
2: Become an independant state.
Its a win win situation for Pakistan either way if we stop thinking of Kashmir as a 'Muslim problem/Pakistani problem' because it is not. It is a Kashmiri problem and they are the ones who need to solve it. If they choose the 1st option in a vast majority, we mount serious efforts of peacemaking with India.
If they choose the 2nd option, its a win win for us as we will help them become a new country, UN member, OIC member and then we can leave them alone to deal with the Indians,they would have to worry about the diplomatic/military strife with India, not us. It will become a 'Kashmiri Problem' - and this territory will act as a buffer between us and Indian forces. I would rather have Indian forces patrol Kashmiri streets than patrolling mine. Kashmiri freedom is worth Pakistani blood? - i wonder if it is and how much of it will be enough. We are giving blood since 1947.
3: Isolation from Arab-Iran rivalry.
Pakistan is a nuclear power and cannot be invaded, why should we be fighting as mercenaries for others? - I want no Pakistani boots outside Pakistan for ANY reason, for ANY country. Arab Iranian rivalry has a racist undertone, which Pakistan must not become a part of. We should allow them to solve their differences peacefully or go to war. Pakistan must not take EITHER SIDE, and remain totally neutral.
No Arab/Persian forces have helped us in 1948-1965-1971. It was us who were fighting for them not them fighting for us. We all know what the odds are of any military assistance from Iran or Arabs in any future war with India, don't we? -
They won't come to our help, when we need them the most. - Pakistan therefore needs to become neutral -we need not meddle in their affairs nor we allow them to meddle into ours.
4: Recognize Israel
If Kashmir = Palestine than why Arabs and Iranians and Turks are allowed to recognize India while Pakistan is not allowed to recognize Israel? - Why they are allowed to trade with India, but Pakistan is not allowed to trade with Israel? - Pakistan should recognize Israel
in return for unrestricted access to American and European markets and preferential trade agreements - as well as Pakistan gets the NSG membership. It will equal out our relations with the Arabs and the Iranians vis a vis Kashmir and India, and will improve our international standing by presenting us as a mature nation.
5: Join SCO
Pakistan should join SCO at all costs - dim its role in the OIC. Focus on China, Russia, C.Asia and India for trade and making the most of our geographic importance.
6: Build and maintain a Military muscle
If we adopt the above policy we need to build a potent conventional military muscle, big enough to provide impeccable national defense - to flush out the terrorist outfits - and small enough that cant be used in attacking any other nation in the world. Pakistan military should ONLY be used to defend Pakistanis. We should not care who's bombing Afghanistan and who's dumping Kashmiris in mass graves. As long as its not us getting killed, it shouldn't affect our military thinking.
7: Apologise to Bangladesh
We need to apologise to Bangladesh for our brutality inflicted upon them in 1971 -
in return for free trade agreements and normalization of the bilateral ties.
8: Non intervention in the Muslim world
When was the last time you saw Turks,Indonesians and Malaysians intervening in other countries to 'protect Muslims' ? - NEVER. We need to do the same, we need to learn to ignore what happens in the Muslim world, so we can focus on ourselves. It should not be an issue to us, if Israelis bomb Palestinians,Lebanese and Egyptians, Burmese monks kill Rohingas, Serbs kill bosnians or Indians bomb Kashmiris. We should not intervene - they are not worth a drop of Pakistani blood.
9: Become business minded
Every F.policy favor we render to ANYONE - has to be
in return for business favors returned to us. Once we build our economy, we send our kids to schools and universities - than we can think about other goals.
10: Pacifist Pakistan
Pakistan should give up its alliance with the US, normalize its ties with the US as a non aligned nation, bolster ties with China,Russia, India , Brazil and EU. A Pakistan that is indifferent to the security climate in other nations as long as its not us. We should never wage war on other nations-nor become partisans in one.
By doing this, we can reinvent our position in the world as a self centric country that is pro business - pro trade and anti conflict.
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Have your say.
Peace.
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