When Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi gets involved in creating a new province - something which is presently not a possibility - instead of looking after his own portfolio then there is something definitely wrong with distribution of government work. According to him, the PTI will soon be tabling a bill in parliament for the creation of 'South Punjab' province. He is, however, unrealistically optimistic about the outcome. The question is: what he should be doing at this point of time? This question has a simple answer: A meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Senate on Thursday headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, and attended, among others, by veteran ambassador Dr Maleeha Lodhi, discussed at length the foreign policy challenges confronting Pakistan, particularly the emerging "strategic space" that can be gainfully exploited. This space, according to Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed, comprises US-Taliban peace agreement, Donald Trump's reelection, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and severe internal and international backlash on Narendra Modi's anti-minorities programme. Dr Lodhi identified four major challenges for Pakistan in its foreign policy engagements that include navigating Sino-US competition; the Kashmir issue and relations with India; Saudi-Iran stand-off and evolving situation in Afghanistan. She underscored the need for "clarifying" the issues facing Pakistan to inject consistency into our diplomacy. She also underscored the need for requisitioning an OIC ministerial meeting and OIC Human Rights Council special sessions on Kashmir. She, for example, asked: 'Why is there an inexplicable halt in our Kashmir policy'. There was also a call by a Senator to appoint a deputy foreign minister. He also highlighted justification for sending abroad "capable envoys to mobilise public opinion on the Kashmir issue". Given the politics-ridden atmospherics that consistently obtain in the two houses of parliament never ever we had so enlightened a discussion on the challenges besetting the country's foreign policy. But now when a kind of broad guideline is in place following the conclave in the Senate committee there is the imperative for an exhaustive debate on the floor of parliament, among others also joined also by the foreign minister, on strategic diplomatic space now available, as is also crucial that government presents its own point of view on the "inexplicable halt" on Kashmir issue pointed out by Dr Lodhi.

We may go to Davos or attend UN General Assembly session, but what really matters is near-home blood-soaked Indian occupation of Kashmir. We may undertake total commitment to solidarity of Muslim world, but what really matters is the concern over low-key OIC position on India's unlawful occupation of Jammu & Kashmir. We would like to know what happened to President Trump's mediation offer on the Kashmir issue? But let bygones be bygones - let's look ahead and usefully exploit the strategic space now available. On Kashmir, Pakistan must secure the OIC's ministerial level support. Let Arab princes decorate Narendra Modi with highest national awards, but we should sensitize them on his draconian myth that Muslims have no space in India. On Afghanistan, Pakistan should stay proactively neutral, because as to who rules there is Afghans' domestic concern. As the United States pulls out from Afghanistan, a kind of political vacuum is likely to take place, on which our foreign policy minders must have a clear-headed posture. We in Pakistan may have historical links with so and so and we may have shared geostrategic past with so and so, but the ultimate decisive factor in our state-to-state relationships should be the national interest. In foreign relations there are no permanent friendships; nor are there uncompromising enmities. In case the foreign ministry feels being inadequate on a certain issue it should requisition services of private sector think tanks. And finally, as Senator Lt. General Abdul Qayyum (retd) emphasized, there is the need for "careful selection" of ambassadors tasked to address challenges of our foreign policy.