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Pakistan’s Foreign Policy 1947-2019

The Power of Policy

By Taha Kehar | July 2020

Book Title: Pakistan’s Foreign Policy 1947-2019: A Concise History (Fifth Edition)
Author: Abdul Sattar
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Pages: 795
ISBN: 9780190702571

Scholarly insights have revealed that foreign policy decision-making cannot be insulated from domestic and global politics. Since Pakistan’s inception, state leaders have negotiated a complex geopolitical terrain and acted on copious strategic compulsions to safeguard national security and strengthen foreign relations. This hasn’t been an easy undertaking because Pakistan gained independence in a climate of intense hostility – especially from India – and continues to face a series of challenges.

Pakistan’s Foreign Policy 1947-2019: A Concise History builds on this motif by situating the country’s consistent attempts to balance its domestic imperatives with its global interests in a historical context. Now in its fifth edition, the book offers up-to-date information on the policy stances that Pakistan has adopted to secure good diplomacy through effective foreign policy decision-making.

It would be impossible to chronicle the highs and lows of Pakistan’s foreign policy dynamics without painstaking research and a deft handling of facts. The author Abdul Sattar passed away in June 2019. He comments on the underlying motivations of major policy undertakings. A distinguished diplomat, he served in tPakistan’s foreign service for over three decades and held key foreign affairs portfolios. With an eye for detail, in the book under review, the author enables readers to look with the benefit of hindsight at the country’s search for a delicate balance in foreign relations.

At its core, the book uses history as a pivot to understand the strategic compulsions that have shaped Pakistan’s ties with other countries. What emerges is not only a chronological survey of key foreign policy milestones, but also a useful framework that illustrates the impact of the past on our current and future policy trajectories. Sattar’s account may, therefore, serve to broaden the horizons of those commentators who view crucial developments in international politics and foreign affairs in a vacuum.

In addition, the author focuses on presenting an ‘objective history’ that isn’t tainted by narrow ideologies. This allows him to explore issues from conflicting angles with a surefootedness and authenticity that is rare among experts.

At the outset, Sattar outlines how the turbulent events that led to the creation of Pakistan impelled Quaid-e-Azam Mohammad Ali Jinnah to chalk out an idealistic approach to foreign relations based on the principle of goodwill towards other nations. The author demonstrates how “Jinnah’s concept of Pakistan as a Muslim, liberal, democratic and modern nation-state naturally predisposed him in favour of close relations with democratic countries”. In a similar vein, the country’s founding father didn’t want it to become “involved in the ideological contest between the emergent blocs led by the US and the Soviet Union”.

Throughout the book, the author illustrates how the nascent state struggled to preserve the impulse for idealism. Confronted by the threat of war, the pressure to align itself with global powers and the desire to safeguard its own interests, Pakistan had to consistently shift its allegiances without losing sight of its initial policy stance. According to the author, the “aim remained constant while policy was adjusted to evolutions in the international environment, especially the changing policies of the Great Powers in the South Asian region”.

Sattar focuses on various events and developments to present the subtle shifts in the country’s foreign policy trajectory. Through a detailed scrutiny of the Kashmir situation, the cold-war period, the India-Pakistan wars and the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, the author explores how state leaders responded to a diverse spectrum of challenges.

When a book tackles such a vast topic, skeptics often find that some crucial debates and ideas have either been glossed over or are insufficiently addressed. Pakistan’s Foreign Policy 1947-2019: A Concise History doesn’t suffer from these lapses and appears to cover all the relevant areas pertaining to the country’s foreign affairs.

The author has included well-researched chapters on Pakistan’s policy initiatives after 9/11 and the country’s efforts to tackle militancy. Pakistan’s tumultuous relations with the US and Afghanistan have also been scrutinized in a succinct manner. At a time when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Hindutva-inspired reforms have weakened the scope for peace overtures, Sattar offers a concise account on the pitfalls in India-Pakistan relations. Detailed notes have been included about the consequences of the 2019 Pulwama attack and the illegal annexation of Indian Occupied Kashmir.

In his compelling, honest style, Sattar maintains that policy decisions have invariably been taken in an autonomous manner to secure national interests. Though this may come across as an idealistic conclusion, the author doesn’t advocate blind veneration for the decisions taken by state leaders in the past and emphasizes the need to learn from mistakes in the policy sphere.

An informative book that offers an authoritative account on Pakistan’s foreign policy initiatives, Pakistan’s Foreign Policy 1947-2019: A Concise History ought to be required reading for students of international affairs and political science. The insights gleaned from this book may encourage even more holistic narratives on the direction of foreign affairs in Pakistan.

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