Security and prosperity in South Asia
- Source: Global Times
- [21:39 June 18 2009]
- Comments
By Masood Khan
Security and prosperity in South Asia are correlated. Security means that there are no conflicts and wars, and terrorism and extremism are not driving the political discourse. And prosperity in South Asia would mean an end to strife, conflict, deprivation and poverty.
There is no panacea; no silver bullet. What we need most is to triage the threats we are facing.
Terrorism is the most pressing threat, and defeat of terrorism would pave the way for economic development, regional integration and stability.
Pakistan is right now engaged in probably the fiercest phase of the war against terrorism. Its economy suffered, the North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) and Baluchistan experienced environmental degradation, some five million refugees moved to Pakistan (out of which two million are still on our soil), and some religious seminaries preached extremism, terrorism and anti-Westernism.
Today, more than 130,000 troops from our armed forces are deployed along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border to interdict terrorists and root out terrorism.
Therefore, we urge countries in the region and our allies to give full space to Pakistan. We will not succeed if for smaller strategic gains, espionage networks are launched, insurgencies are abetted, religious and sectarian hatred is incited, and ethnic differences are exploited.
Moreover, the Pakistan-India relationship is the most critical plank in the security-prosperity paradigm of South Asia.
From 2004 to 2008, Pakistan and India conducted structured, sustained and substantive dialogue. We made progress in elaborating and implementing confidence-building measures.
However, following the Mumbai terrorist attacks, this useful dialogue process sputtered and since then it has been suspended. We should resume dialogue without preconditions. We believe that the security of South Asia would be bolstered by pursuing a strategic restraint regime between India and Pakistan.
Pakistan is committed to pursuing peace and stability in the region at the lowest level of armaments. For several years we have proposed to India a strategic restraint regime, which has three constituents: resolution of disputes through dialogue; nuclear restraint; and conventional balance. To work for a lasting peace, we advocate preventive diplomacy, confidence building and conflict resolution.
Even as we are fighting terrorism and investing and reinvesting in peace processes to resolve our differences, we should not wait until eternity to start our cooperation. We should strengthen simultaneous tracks to build a resilient architecture for regional interface through energy, trade and transportation corridors.