Lahore -
 

Noted scholar and policy analyst, Mowahid Hussin Shah believes that Western powers including the US would not change their policies towards Pakistan after the 2013 elections.
Speaking at Hameed Nizami Press Institute of Pakistan on the topic, “Pakistan and the Western World: Post Election Scenario” on Friday,  he said that nothing was going to change after the new government takes charge of foreign affairs.
Mowahid thought that European world particularly the US and UK would be comfortable working with the new leadership in Pakistan. “I don’t see and major policy shift on any issue from either side after political change here”, he stressed.
However, he said, one thing was pretty much clear. “The Western powers would not like the new Pakistan government to become radical and get close to Iran”, he observed.
On President Obama’s policy statement on drone strikes inside Pakistan, Mowahid termed it a major change in the US policy but attributed it to internal factors. “Since the reports of what the Americans call collateral damage, a lot of discussion was going on within the US institutions over the moral and legal aspects of drone strikes”, he said, adding, that it was not the result of any pressure from Pakistan government.
“There is a movement in the US against these un-manned aircrafts operating with impunity in Pakistan”, he further told the audience which consisted of senior journalists, writers and columnists from different media organisations.
He lamented that Pakistani diplomats lacked the skills to present their country’s case particularly on the issues of drones and Kashmir at the international forums. “They don’t even have the required background knowledge to speak on these issues”, he said.
Mowahid urged that defeatist approach on the part of Pakistan needs to be changed.
Replying to a question, he said that West was much worried about a radical change in the foreign policy of Turkey which had emerged as the strongest proponent of Palestinian cause over the years compared to other Islamic countries.
After getting a cold response from the West to include it in the European Union, Turkey is getting tough at the Western nations on different issues, especially on the issue of Palestine, he said.
The question-answer session was conducted by Director of the Institute, Absar Abdul Ali who also introduced the guest speaker with the audience before start of the lecture.
Talking about the likely scenario in Afghanistan after the withdrawal of US forces from the region by the year 2014, Mowahid Shah said that US would keep some 13,000 to 14,000 troops in Afghanistan even after the planned pull out. “It’s more lethal forces would also stay there to monitor the activities of China in the region”, he added.
Answering a question, he said that Pakistan should have challenged the India-US nuclear agreement in the international court instead of seeking a similar deal from the US. According to him, the US-India nuclear deal was illegal since the latter was not a signatory to either the NPT or the CTBT.
To another question, he said OIC had become a toothless body, incapable of protecting the interests of Muslim countries which had no effective representation at the United Nations. “The Muslim countries, he said, should propose the name of Indonesia as permanent member of the United Nations. In his view, Indonesia had better credentials to represent the Muslim countries at the UN because it was widely regarded as a non-controversial and neutral entity in the comity of nations.