‘Pakistan nearing strategic breakthrough’

As new alliances and interests transform the geopolitical landscape of South Asia, opening up new channels for regional connectivity and growth, Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said on Friday while noting that Pakistan is poised for a strategic breakthrough.

He voiced hope for Pakistan’s geo-economics prospects, which are impacted by important changes occurring both domestically and internationally.

As an important reason, he cited the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which “will link Central Asia with the Indian Ocean through Pakistan,” therefore promoting trade and economic integration. He claims that for the first time in 42 years, “Pakistan with strategic space” has been made available by the end of the war in Afghanistan.

He went on to emphasize other geopolitical developments that contribute to this strategic openness, such as the political upheaval in Bangladesh and the reconciliation between Iran and Saudi Arabia.

More positive regional conditions for Pakistan were cited, along with the lessened power of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in comparison to his previous tenure.

According to Mushahid, Pakistan is moving towards greater international integration and acknowledgement of its strategic importance with its hosting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and its application to join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa).

Mr. Mushahid did not hold back while discussing Pakistan’s internal problems, even in light of these encouraging signs. He made it clear that a lot of the nation’s issues are self-inflicted and hence reversible. He asserts that Pakistan’s people’s spirit and resiliency are essential elements that will propel the nation through these challenges and onwards motion. The former Pakistani Permanent Representative to the UN, Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, presented a list of seven characteristics that characterize the current strategic environment during the workshop’s opening session.

She advised against using the term “world order” to describe the current state of affairs, arguing that it is better accurately described as a “global world disorder.” Increasing East-West tensions, particularly those heightened by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, the growing U.S.-China rivalry underscored by Washington’s containment strategy, and the economic shift towards multipolarity with wealth and power shifting from the West to other regions were among her main points.

The emergence of middle powers determined to forge their own foreign policy paths independently of major international alliances, the rise of populism, technological disruptions in a hyperconnected world, and the growing threats to multilateralism and the rules-based international order were also noted by her. Pakistan is a key state at the intersection of South Asia, Central Asia, and the Middle East, which emphasizes its geopolitical significance, according to CISS Executive Director Ambassador Ali Sarwar Naqvi, who spoke at the workshop.