Pakistan's First Ever Security Policy Prioritises Economic Ties Over Kashmir Dispute With India

On Friday, Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan will release the public version of the national security policy. The first-ever national security policy provides economic, military, and human security guidelines.

The Pakistan government will prioritise economic diplomacy with India in its first-ever national security policy, which will suggest doing away with decades-old hostility with the eastern neighbour. According to Pakistani daily Express Tribune report, the 100-page policy envisages better trade and business ties with India, even if the longstanding Kashmir dispute remains unresolved.

“We are not seeking hostility with India for the next 100 years. The new policy seeks peace with immediate neighbours,” an unnamed official told the daily ahead of the formal release of policy on Friday.

However, the government official also mentioned that prioritising geo-economics doesn't necessarily mean overlooking the geo-strategic and geo-political interests of the country.

Last month, the upcoming policy covering 2022-26 had received a nod from the National Security Committee (NSC), which includes service chiefs and top ministers.

The NSC is the government’s topmost consultative and decision-making body for coordinating issues pertaining to national security.

Pakistan’s national security advisor Moeed W. Yusuf has dubbed it a citizen-centric comprehensive policy with economic security at the core.

“This umbrella document will, over time, help guide sectoral policies for the fulfilment of our national security objectives,” he had said after the cabinet approval of the document.

The decades-old rivalry between the two nuclear-armed nations had aggravated in 2019 when India revoked the special status of disputed Jammu and Kashmir.

Prime Minister Imran Khan accused the Narendra Modi government of violating the Indian Constitution, the United Nations Security Council resolutions on Kashmir, and the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan.

After two years of Pakistan's sustained campaign on Kashmir at international forums, the two countries' armies surprised the world by restoring the ceasefire understanding along the Line of Control (LoC) in February 2021.

The two armies have been maintaining peace at the highly militarised border since then.

Kashmir has been a major bone of contention between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, as both claim it in full but govern in part.