ISLAMABAD: Defence Minis­ter Khawaja Asif has said that Pakistan does not have a problem with a growing partnership bet­ween the United States and India, if the relationship is not developed “at the cost of Pakistan”.

In an interview with Newsweek, the PML-N leader talked about ties between Pakistan and regional powers, its relationship with the United States and China, and the precarious economic situation that the country has found itself in the wake of stalled IMF programme.

During the interview, Mr Asif admitted that India was a major economy and global powers would need to have New Delhi as its partner, as compared to Pakistan which was a “vulnerable economy” and only had its “geographical location” as its “strategic” asset. He also urged the US to show “some appreciation” and asked Washington not to push into a situation where it has “to make some very hard choices”.

“Our relationship with America for us is very valuable…we want that relationship to flourish. We are big trade partners, we have a very large Pakistani diaspora in the United States and Pakistani interests over there,” he stressed.

Defence minister urges Washington to show ‘appreciation’; not push Islamabad into making ‘hard choices’

The minister also acknowledged that it was difficult to maintain a balance between China and the US. “…it has been very difficult for us over the last many decades to maintain this balancing act between our relationship with the United States of America and with the regional powers like China, our friends in the Arabian Gulf, Iran, and, of course, the Russian Federation also,” he said, adding that due to complex geopolitical situation, “sometimes [it] becomes very difficult for us to balance between different interest groups”.

“…once we have economic stability in our country, I think we will really be in a better position to handle this situation. Our vulnerability, economic vulnerability, actually exposes us to so many problems, which sometimes we are unable to tackle,” he said in reference to ties with global powers, hoping ties between the US and China would improve.

“So, this is something which we have to balance and, under the circumstances, under economic pressures, we are finding it difficult, but we survive.

Speaking about relationship with neighbouring countries, the defence minister said, “We would like to have good relationships with them. We would like to improve our relationships with them, if the relationship is not good. We want to live in peace. If there is no peace, we will never be able to restore our economy the way we want.”

Speaking about cross-border terrorism, the defence minister said militants “do come from across the border…and we have almost daily casualties and our soldiers are martyred”. He added this was a “painful” situation for Pakistan and hoped that the Afghan Taliban would abide by the Doha deal and stop militants from using their soil.

Mr Asif also talked about the need to reduce the government size, a new social contract, and “tough” choices to resolve the issues faced by Islamabad.

“The size of the government is too large. We have departments which are there in the provinces and they are replicated or duplicated [in] the federation as well. So, these are economic reforms needed to be undertaken,” he said.

The minister called for “an economic understanding or some sort among those who run Pakistan, big business, politicians, and traders”.

He also acknowledged “polarisation” in the society and said “perhaps sometime in the fall, we will hold elections and that will help in depolarising the situation”.

He said PTI Chairman Imran Khan could not come to power without the establishment’s help in the next election.

“I think he won’t be able to achieve anything… We hope to hold free and fair elections and we will ensure that the election process is transparent and nothing happens,” said Mr Asif.

“I think that will be the most potent recipe to dilute this polarisation.”

Published in Dawn, June 18th, 2023