ISLAMABAD: Director General (DG) Strategic Studies Institute Islamabad (SSII) and a senior leader Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Dr Shireen M Mazari on Saturday criticised the government for non-implementation of the National Action Plan (NAP).

She was addressing a media workshop titled “Global Strategic Environment and Pakistan” organised by SSII.

Dr Mazari said, “Pakistan paid a heavy price in fighting terrorism as it was a front-line state in Global War on Terror”. To cope with the menace of terrorism, she suggested an all-encompassing strategy which is required to deal with the multi-level terrorist threat.

“There is a need to focus on the causes of terrorism, not simply the symptoms. In this, political dialogue and peaceful resolution of conflicts become essential tools with which to fight terrorism,” she said.

Dr Mazari gave a brief overview of the world order in the post-Cold War era. She argued that, “After the disintegration of Soviet Union, NATO’s role became irrelevant in the global politics. To give a rationale to its existence, NATO started out-of-area operations, e.g. in Afghanistan.”

She said that, “In the post-9/11 era, came the Greater Middle East Initiative GMEI, or Broader Middle East Initiative BMEI which claimed to promote liberal democracy and freedom of speech in these Muslim states, and resulted in the Arab Spring.”

“There is still instability in the region which resulted in weakened Arab states. This instability created a power vacuum which further strengthened non-state actors, and is reflected most clearly in the rise of the militant group Daesh,” she said.

She said, “The contemporary non-proliferation debate was focused exclusively on the nuclear programmes of certain countries including Iran and Pakistan.” On the issue of Fissile Material Cut-off Treaty (FMCT), she argued that, “Pakistan should continue its opposition to FMCT and ask for an FMT else the country will be at a permanent disadvantage.”

In her concluding remarks, Dr Mazari indicated that, “Pakistan currently lacks a strong foreign policy in this changing global strategic environment.” She also pointed out that, “Pakistan lacks a viable Kashmir policy, which is the first and foremost step Pakistan should take for the resolution of the conflict.”—NNI