Aisha Saeed
The first five weeks of 2020 have been quite eventful for Pakistan. Every important figure of the government was engaged overseas – all working cohesively to project abroad Pakistan’s improved image.
At the World Economic Forum, Davos , Prime Minister Imran Khan represented Pakistan. His address at the Forum and several; sideline meetings and mingling with other head of states and dignitaries provided an opportunity to explain the Pakistan of 2020 – the journey from being labeled as the most dangerous country in the world on the brink of collapse to being a victim of terrorism and the great recovery as a result of the unprecedented work that state institutions have performed on the security front. Compared to the pervious years, Pakistan’s presence this year at the Forum was felt as PM Khan engaged with audiences and explained the challenges that Pakistan has been dealing with.
This helped correct some misperceptions that had arisen out of an image problem, particularly because of the its partnership with the US in the questionable war against terrorism. notwithstanding the fact that its positive attributes far outshine the negative perceptions. Under Khan, it seems, Pakistan is resetting its global image and Khan’s fame from his cricketing years as well as his candor is helping the country in regaining the ground it had lost in the past two decades.
During his meeting with Trump, Khan raised the issue of Kashmir and extremism in India under PM Modi. And it made headlines. But the situation on ground has not changed much for Kashmir. India is still making all efforts to turn Kashmir into a camp hidden in plain sight. While Pakistan wants to avoid all conflicts – including one with India, Khan may have to walk his talk when it comes to Kashmir.
The WEF provided Khan with the right platform not only to project Pakistan but also defend its partnership with China under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).
Apart from the traditional topics that Pakistan was expected to discuss and participate in, climate change was a new one, but the one close to Imran Khan’s heart. “What I loved about Pakistan was its wilderness, its mountains. With age I saw this wilderness disappearing, and the way we destroyed our forests cover. I always resolved that I would make sure that we preserve the God-given beauty of this country”, he said, while discussing climate change and the impacts on Pakistan. Khan’s 10 billion trees campaign received notable recognition. Through preserving Pakistan’s natural landscape – tourism would become a naturally thriving industry. For Pakistan, climate change and tourism go hand in hand to some extent.
As PM Khan engaged with world leaders in Davos , Pakistan’s Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood spoke on the World Education Forum in London, where he informed the audienes that the current government has planned major overhauls in the education system. One of them is the reforms and integration of religious schools and seminaries into the mainstream education sector. The government also plans to introduce a uniform curriculum across all schools in Pakistan and implement Urdu as a medium of instruction. Either changing the medium of instruction would work or not – that is a separate debate for the experts. The government also aims at enrolling more out of school children back to schools. The Minister explained Pakistan’s effort in reforming the current education setup under the theme of the World Education Forum of “One generation – what does it take to transform education?” If the Minister and his team manage to cope with education crisis in the country, Pakistan’s future generation will be on a bright course.
After climate change, improvement in the education sector of Pakistan is another top agenda of Prime Minister Imran Khan. Pakistan has long since come out of speaking just about terrorism at home to subjects that matter in the global community.
Pakistan’s last-minute excuse from the Kuala Lumpur summit last year had received strong criticism but Imran Khan tried to make amends for that miss during his Feb 3-4 visit to Malaysia with his top aide-de-camps.
Khan was joined by his Foreign Minister who had returned from Kenya. In both the cases, Pakistan was involved in discussing issues and the opportunities related to trade and investments in the respective regions.
Amid all the positive happening, Pakistan narrowly avoided getting caught up in another conflict in the Middle East. With Iran as an immediate neighbor, Pakistan understandably cannot afford another Afghanistan like crisis. But Pakistan should not trade its bilateral ties with third party situations. To become a partner in peace, Khan must understand it cannot afford to be standing in the direct line of fire. Both Muhammad bin Salman and Khan admire each other but personal relationship can cause unnecessary misunderstandings.
Khan’s peace plan for Pakistan and the region include the military’s nod to an extent. Both the civil and the military brass understand that Pakistan needs a break from fighting external wars to fixing the home. This is where Pakistan must incorporate the use of soft power to maintain and lobby its interests aboard.
In the prevailing regional and global atmosphere, Pakistan can exercise soft power through two resources – culture and tourism, thoughtful and balanced foreign policy along with extensive public diplomacy. Pakistan’s stance on climate change, education and trade on international forums projects a country’s soft image that must be harnessed in the future.
With a lot of global attention – particularly the decision by the UK and the US to positively revise travel advisories on Pakistan for its citizens – the country now needs to take measures that invoke confidence of foreigners – both investors and tourists.
Aisha Saeed is an independent media & foreign policy analyst . She tweets @MsAishaK.
