ISLAMABAD: National Security Adviser Dr Moeed Yousaf on Wednesday said that India has become a threat to the entire region due to its hegemonic designs and maltreatment of its neighboring countries.
Addressing a seminar, Dr Yousuf said that the world will soon realise the threat posed to the region by India’s hegemonic designs under the RSS-led regime ruling India. He said that the main objective of the national security paradigm is to provide Pakistanis with the means of livelihood and make them feel safe and that is why Prime Minister Imran Khan wanted to develop Pakistan as a welfare state on the pattern of the State of Madinah.
“All our leadership speaks of the transition of permanent Pakistani thinking from a geopolitical to a geo-economic landscape, which in fact reflects a change in our thinking. Over the past 70 years, we have been saying that our geographical location is unique,” he said and added that Pakistan is an important strategic asset.
“Due to Pakistan’s strategic location in the past, we have been the center of world wars and proxy wars. For the last 40 years Afghanistan has been the best example of this. We are planning to use our geographical location from geopolitical to geo-economic location,” he said. Dr Moeed said that the new strategy has three pillars, the first of which is connectivity.
“Since Pakistan is located in the South Asia, we can connect the South to the North, East and West Asia, using our geostrategic location. You must have witnessed our rapid transition to Central Asia. The prime minister has also made three to four important visits to the region as Central Asia is connected to us through Afghanistan and can have access to the hot waters which is the most economically efficient way for the Central Asia,” he said.
He said that China, Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is also important and its aim is to connect China with our hot waters for their global trade which would turn Pakistan into a transit hub.
“The aim is to build more infrastructure, generate energy and transit from Pakistan. We can extend this connection to the West but due to the attitude and situation of the government in India, this route has been closed. Due to the Hindutva thinking of Modi government, there is very little scope for dialogue with them. But this path will also go ahead and open in the future,” Dr Yousuf said.
The NSA said that the second important pillar is to build partnerships with the world, but that doesn’t mean we are seeking aid.
“The important thing is how we can partner in exports, trade, investment, the FDI and other important things. For all of this, we need to do a lot of work in the country as well, because wherever there is less resistance in the world, investors will come and we have to try to improve this aspect,” he said.
Yousaf said that both aspects cannot be possible unless Pakistanis work on the third pillar and that is internal and regional peace and security, which is why massive efforts are being made to establish the writ of the state in the country.
“But what is happening in India and the path they are taking is very disappointing. The sooner the world opens its eyes, the sooner it will realize the way India is dealing with all its neighbors has become a real threat to the entire region,” he said.
Dr Yousaf said that Afghanistan is now at the center of all this, because unless there is stability in Afghanistan, an integrated corridor can’t be built that connects Central Asia to our hot waters,” he concluded.
