100 days of Khan: The diplomatic achievements of PTI government

Prime Minister Imran Khan’s government celebrated its achievements in the first 100 days in the power this week.

It will be pertinent to see in the hindsight what the PTI government gained on the diplomatic front in the first 100 days.

The diplomatic footprints of the new PTI government can be seen in Khan’s foreign trips to key allies, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, China, UAE and Malaysia.

The two visits to KSA can be termed as the most fruitful in economic terms with US dollar six billion economic support for the country to meet the current account deficit and delayed payment of Saudi oil.

In its most important visit of the all-weather friend China, Prime Minister Imran Khan and his colleagues in government apart from talks over China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the government entourage also gave attention to the People’s Republic of China’s anti-corruption mechanism, policies and the style of governance.

The visit was followed by a delegation of the officials of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf, for a follow-up visit of China and meetings with the Chinese state and communist party officials.

On the other part PM’s visit of Malaysia might be on the learning curve of the nation-building.

His meeting with Prime Minister of Malaysia Mahathir Mohamed would have provided him some insights in the nation building.

Khan, during his political struggle has praised the veteran Malaysian leader Mahathir scores of time.

The recent visit to United Arab Emirates will likely a visit to cement traditional relations with the UAE government.

Response to Trump’s outburst

Prime Minister Imran Khan retorted US President Donald Trump to inform himself about historical facts after the US president claimed that Islamabad did not adequately support the Washington-led “war on terror”.

In a series of statements on Twitter, Khan listed ways in which Pakistan assisted the US and was impacted by the war, saying the “record needs to be put straight on Mr Trump’s tirade against Pakistan”.

The comments came a day after Trump defended his decision to cut hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid to Pakistan, accusing Islamabad of taking money while allowing former al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to hide in the country.

Khan reacted sharply, recalling the Pakistani lives lost during the war and said the US has made Pakistan a “scapegoat” for its failures in Afghanistan, where the Taliban are stronger than at any point since the 2001 US-led invasion.

Peace Overtures Towards India

Imran Khan in his first speech as the Prime Minister of Pakistan invited neighboring India for talks over scores of contentions issues between the two countries.

However, icing on the cake in respect to the diplomatic achievements of Imran Khan’s government is its new diplomatic initiative towards India in the name of Kartarpur Corridor, a step that will not only meet a public demand of the Sikhs of India across the border and will create goodwill towards Pakistan in the public. But it could become a step that will definitely force the government of India to reconsider its policies of aggression towards Pakistan and come to the table for talks on the contentious issues between the two neighboring countries.

In its first 100 days, the government of Imran Khan has initiated steps that will lay the foundation of a proactive foreign policy of Pakistan.