Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday, terming an independent foreign policy crucial for the country, said the reason why Pakistan could not touch its peak potential was its \u2018dependency syndrome\u2019 on other powerful nations.<\/p>\n
\u201cA county without an independent foreign policy remains unable to secure the interests of its people,\u201d he said in his address at the Islamabad Security Dialogue.<\/p>\n
The two-day event gathered intelligentsia from across the country besides representatives from the United States, United Kingdom, China, Russian and European Union.<\/p>\n
PM Imran Khan said taking independent decision while keeping high the interests of nation was extremely important rather than submitting to the will of other countries in exchange of foreign aid.<\/p>\n
He said a nation could not progress until it kept thinking that it could not survive without foreign aid and criticized the decisions of previous governments for joining the alien wars, namely the Afghan Jihad and the post 9\/11 war on terror.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese decisions, that incurred major damage to Pakistan, were made for the sake of dollars,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
He pointed out that such detrimental policies resulted in sectarian militancy that disrupted the environment of investment, and promoted drug rackets and black money in the country.<\/p>\n
He regretted that no independent evaluation was made afterwards to assess the damage suffered by the Pakistani society, and said \u201cthe elite filled up their bank accounts at the cost of the nation\u201d.<\/p>\n
Imran Khan said his government during four years pursued an independent foreign policy that helped the country gain respect in global arena. <\/p>\n
Referring to the U.S., he said a \u201cpowerful country\u201d had expressed displeasure over his recent visit to Russia. \u201cOn the other hand, it is supporting its ally India which imports oil from Russia\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow come a country can interfere into the affairs of an independent State,\u201d he said. \u201cBut not to blame them, as it is our fault because we gave them this impression\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said for its own interest, Pakistan\u2019s elite threw the nation to altar and put its self-respect at stake. <\/p>\n
Imran Khan said national security was a multidimensional phenomenon and could be ensured when the State and nation got united at single vision and ideology.<\/p>\n
He said his government firmly believed that there was a symbiotic relationship between economic, human, and traditional security which was imperative for Pakistan\u2019s long-term development.<\/p>\n
He said domestic stability and regional peace based on mutual co-existence, regional connectivity, and shared prosperity were essential prerequisites to optimising national security.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday, terming an independent foreign policy crucial for the country, said the reason why Pakistan could not touch its peak potential was its \u2018dependency syndrome\u2019 on other powerful nations. \u201cA county without an independent foreign policy remains unable to secure the interests of its people,\u201d he said in his address […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":224430,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[5537,20,3370],"class_list":{"0":"post-252438","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news","8":"tag-dependency","9":"tag-pakistan","10":"tag-syndrome"},"yoast_head":"\n