ISLAMABAD: Secretary Defence Pro that India was not engaging in fair diplomacy in its relations duction Lt Gen (retd) Syed Muhammad Owais on Tuesday saidwith Pakistan.
“India is playing intrigue diplomacy,” Gen Owais said in his keynote speech at a workshop on ‘National Security, Deterrence and Regional Stability in South Asia’ organised by Islamabad based think tank Strategic Vision Institute (SVI).
The three day workshop is being attended by mid-career civil and military officers, students and journalists. SVI has been regularly organising workshops for young professionals and students to provide them an opportunity to exchange views with experts on issues related to national security and strategic stability. He said that even though restrictions could not be imposed on Indian moves, Pakistani diplomacy should robustly seek to neutralise them.
The secretary said that on one hand India was influencing Afghanistan to keep it “negatively inclined” towards Pakistan, while on the other it was approaching countries like UAE, Saudi Arabia, and Iran, which have traditionally been Pakistan’s friends to curtail its influence.
Gen Owais said that with the scope for conventional war reduced, India would use other means to coerce Pakistan, which may include political, economic and cultural instruments. India’s strategic deal with the US, he believed, had emboldened India to intimidate Pakistan into “compliance mode”. Gen Owais feared that India may attempt to draw Pakistan into an arms race, exploit its internal weakness, and promote instability in the country as proven by capture of Indian spy Kulbushan Jadhav in Balochistan and other instances of RAW’s involvement in subversive activities in the country (Pakistan).
Pakistan’s former permanent representative at the United Nations in Geneva Amb Zamir Akram said the India-US strategic alliance was a much bigger cause for concern than people currently realised. He said the logistics accord Delhi and Washington were about to sign, allowing the two countries to use each other’s bases and military facilities was a harbinger for things to come. He was of the opinion that major divergences existed between the strategic interests of the US and Pakistan. “US cannot be seen as a reliable partner anymore,” he observed adding that things may get worse in coming days.
The retired diplomat said that Pakistan should enhance its strategic relationship with China and work towards developing a meaningful partnership with Russia, besides maintaining credible deterrence against India. He also stressed on pursuing an aggressive foreign policy and improving the economic conditions for sustaining strong deterrence.
President SVI Dr Zafar Iqbal Cheema in his presentation on Indian Nuclear and Strategic Doctrine said its objectives were to develop strategic capability for a great power role, achieving security and power equilibrium vis-à-vis China, attaining regional supremacy in South Asia, and achieving the prestige and status associated with a nuclear power.
He said that India’s belligerent military posture and aggressive foreign policy behaviour threatened strategic stability in the region. Furthermore, he maintained, realisation of Indian strategic objectives would seriously undermine Pakistan’s national security objectives.
