The incumbent Pakistani government’s extra attention to foreign issues is leading to a governance crisis and domestic instability.

A Persistent Obsession With External Engagements

During the floods earlier this year, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif went on foreign tours rather than concentrating inside the country, visiting flood-affected regions. Similarly, he presided over the cabinet meeting to approve the extraordinary 27th Constitutional Amendment through video link from Azerbaijan, where he was on an insignificant visit. Government officials and supporters justify these unnecessary overseas trips as a demonstration of the country’s rejuvenated international prominence, ascribing it to the effectiveness of the sitting government’s foreign policy.

However, foreign policy successes are measured by their returns, not mere activity. The main criterion is whether these visits deliver any positive outcome to the country, rather than the number of these tours of the government officials or their personal monetary or political benefits from these visits. Indeed, Pakistan should be diplomatically active, but these diplomatic engagements must be result-oriented and consequential, and must not be at the expense of the domestic governance crisis. Unfortunately, this pattern of excessive attention to foreign engagements and ignorance of domestic issues has an extended track record in Pakistan’s........

© New Eastern Outlook