WE couldn’t agree more with Sartaj Aziz when he said “patchwork and an isolated approach” wouldn’t do, and that Pakistan needs foreign and defence policies based on a “visionary and integrated” approach. Speaking in the National Assembly on Tuesday, the Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Policy and National Security spelled out the four elements which he said would form part of the policies now in the offing — internal security, economic development, benefiting from Pakistan’s geographical location and giving the country a better image. It is true that vision has in recent times been lacking in the foreign policy of a country which has produced such deft handlers of external relations as Zafrullah Khan, Manzur Qadir and Z. A. Bhutto. But for these visionary leaders, Pakistan could not have become Communist China’s friend at a time when it was a committed member of US-led military alliances. The fly in the ointment, however, has been the erosion of civilian supremacy and the chokehold which the military has over the decades managed to establish over the foreign and defence policies. Resultantly, vision gave way to a narrower interpretation of national interests — with consequences both harrowing and systemic.

Crafting a more effective foreign policy constitutes a challenge in a political environment in which non-state actors and their sympathisers have come to occupy a position of strength, to which the beleaguered PML-N government has shown little resistance. Common sense suggests — given the weak economy and the way terrorism is strangling Pakistan — that this country should have friendly relations with all neighbours and with global powers that hold sway. Such a level-headed foreign policy requires realism and has little room for knee-jerk reactions led by populist sentiments. In 2011, for instance, Islamabad’s reaction to a series of traumatic events, from Osama bin Laden to Salala, led to a level of confrontation with Nato powers which was not in Pakistan’s interests. Again, while foreign policy everywhere has to respond to domestic urges, in Pakistan the conduct of external relations seems circumscribed by the government’s dread of rogue elements indifferent to national interests.

Today Pakistan needs a better image and a shot in the arm for a moribund economy. Neither is possible without destroying the scourge of terrorism and disbanding the armed militias that hold Pakistan in thrall. The use of militants as a foreign policy tool has done enormous harm to the country, worsened relations with neighbours and caused Pakistan’s worldwide isolation — friendly relations notwithstanding, is there any country that does not view Pakistan with misgiving? The policies of the past need reversal and this will be possible only when the elected civilian leadership reserves the driving seat for itself. Beyond vision, our foreign policy needs cool-headed realism and common sense.