Pakistan will release its first ever National Security Policy (NSP) on Friday. Prime Minister Imran Khan had chaired a cabinet meeting on December, 28 last year which had approved the NSP. The policy document will be implemented over the period of 2022-2026. As per a Dawn report, the policy paper will steer the decision-making progress on policies pertaining to the country's foreign, economic and defence policies. Here’s how it will impact India.
1. Via the NSP, Pakistan seeks to both secure and balance its territorial integrity as well as ensure the country’s economic prosperity for which it will seek to establish stable political and economic relations with the neighbours, especially India.
2. Pakistan seeks to utilise its geographical location as a trade facilitator between Central/North Asia and the India subcontinent as well as establish strong commercial links with fellow SAARC member countries.
3. Interestingly, resolution of the Kashmir issue will not be a prerequisite for establishing strong economic partnership between Pakistan and India as long as both sides indulge in talks, according to the new policy.
Also read| India, China hold 12-hr long talks on border point disengagement
4. “(Pakistan is) not seeking hostility with India for the next 100 years. The new policy seeks peace with immediate neighbours… (but) geo-economics does not necessarily mean we overlook our geo-strategic and geo-political interests,” The Express Tribune quoted an official saying on the condition of anonymity.
6. The official further added that economic prosperity will be the focus of the NSP. Hence, Pakistan will seek to cultivate peace with immediate neighbours via economic diplomacy. The official nevertheless clarified that the Kashmir dispute will be a major theme of the NSP and that there is no possibility of normalisation of relation with the Modi government.
5. New Delhi wants Pakistan to stop sponsoring terrorist groups against India and that no normalisation in diplomatic relationships can come at the cost of Kashmir, as per an Indian government official quoted by news18 in reaction to the development.
6. India and Pakistan relations have hit rock bottom in the past five years because of numerous Pakistan-backed attacks on its soil such as 2016 Uri attacks and the 2019 Pulwama attacks. Post Pulwama attacks, India withdrew “Most Favoured Nation” status from Pakistan breaking off all trade links. In June 2020, India had asked the Pakistan High Commission to halve its staff strength.
