It's not isolation, just some realignment in region: senior diplomat
Was in India for long, there were foreign ministers then, Indian attitude didn't change, says Malik
KARACHI: (Dunya News) – Senior diplomat, and Pakistan’s former High Commissioner to India, Shahid Malik on Monday said that Pakistan was not in isolation but just that the region was going through some realignment. He said that nothing would’ve changed in India attitude even if we did have a foreign minister, reported Dunya News.
Talking on Dunya Kamran Khan Kay Saath, Shahid Malik said that he had been the high commissioner in India for a long period and foreign ministers existed in those years in Pakistan but Indian attitude did not change at all.
When asked if Pakistan was facing isolation in the region, Malik said that it was certainly a challenge but Pakistan government, its foreign office and he himself were quite confident that this challenge could be faced appropriately.
“I will disagree here with your idea of isolation. I believe that the statements from Russia and Iran were clear indicators of new ground realities emerging in the region. It is an opportunity for us to realign our strategy”.
The senior diplomat said that the entire region was changing and new alliances were coming to the fore. “It’s true that currently we are being pressed from all sides but you will see in the near future how things will change. If you see closely, our old friends are turning into enemies while our old enemies are issuing statements in our favour. So it is a paradigm shift so we have to rethink our strategy but there’s nothing to panic about it”, he said.
He said that Indian attitude wouldn’t change even if there was a foreign minister holding office in the country. “However, I agree that there are people in Pakistan who can take up this responsibility. In fact Sartaj Aziz, currently the foreign advisor, himself is very experienced and has a keen eye for international relations but that doesn’t really change much”, he said.
Discussing the recent statement by Russia, Shahid Malik said that Russia was an opportunity. “China has always been a friend and the world knows it well enough. There’s an opening with Iran too. This is why I’m insisting about looking for new opportunities in the region and rethinking of our alignments”, he said.
