PILDAT recently conducted a 4-day Short Course to orient parliamentarians on the topic of Process of Foreign Policy Formulation in Pakistan. The Short Course was held to sensitize and train a group of 20 parliamentarians belonging to the major political parties represented in the Parliament.

The concluding session of the course, titled as the Appraisal of Pakistan�s Foreign Policy towards US, UK and India was addressed by the British High Commissioner Mark Lyall Grant, Indian High Commissioner Shivshankar Menon and the Representative of the US Ambassador Mr. Larry Robinson.

Earlier, the short course was addressed by the Foreign Minister of Pakistan Mr. Khurshid Mehmud Kasuri in which Mr. Kasuri briefed parliamentarians about the Major Challenges Facing Pakistan�s Foreign Policy. The course also had 4 former foreign ministers as resource persons during the programme including Mr. Sartaj Aziz, Mr. Abdul Sattar, Mr. Sardar Aseff Ahmed Ali and Senator S. M. Zafar. Other eminent speakers and resource persons of the short course included Prof. Dr. Hasan-Askari Rizvi, Defence and Political Analyst; Dr. Ayesha Siddiqa, Security Analyst; Dr. Ijaz Shafi Gilani, Chairman Gallup Pakistan; Mr. Najmuddin A. Shaikh, former foreign secretary; Mr. Javid husain, Former ambassador; Senator Lt. Gen. (retd.) Javed Ashraf Qazi, former DG ISI and Mr. Tahir Amin, Visiting Professor of Political Science at LUMS.

The group of Parliamentarians that participated in the short course included Ms. Aasiya Azeem, MNA PML-Q; Ms. Farha Khalid Banoori, MNA MMA; Ms. Fauzia Wahab, MNA PPPP; Mr. Ishaq Khan Khakwani, MNA, PML-Q; Maimoona Hashmi, MNA, PML-N; Makhdoom Ahmed Alam Anwar, MNA PML-Q; Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, MNA, PML-Q; Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi, MNA PPPP; Mian Shamim Haider, MNA, PML-Q; Mr. Omar Ayub Khan, MNA PML-Q; Mr. Qamar Zaman Kaira, MNA PPPP; Mian Jalil Ahmed Sharaqpuri, MNA PML-N; Sherry Rahman, MNA PPPP; Syed Naveed Qamar, MNA PPPP; Syed Haider Abbas Rizvi, MNA MQM; Syed Nayyar Hussain Bukhari, MNA PPPP and Senator S. M. Zafar.

Terming the course as a success, the parliamentarians commented that it was an excellent learning experience. They also said that the course provided an ideal avenue of interaction with parliamentarians from all parties and resulted in developing camaraderie in the group. All sessions of the course enjoyed intense interaction by parliamentarians in the shape of Q&A and Comments after every presentation. The course discussed issues such as Overview of Pakistan�s Foreign Policies in historical perspective; Process of Foreign Policy formulation in theory and practise; Security considerations influencing foreign policy in Pakistan and other countries; Role of Parliament in shaping and reviewing Foreign Policy as compared to developed democracies of US, UK and India; Economic Diplomacy and Appraisal of Foreign Policy of Pakistan in relation to the US, UK, India, Malaysia and the Muslim World. Special emphasis is placed on the use of relevant case studies of Pakistan�s Foreign Policy during the Gulf Crisis, Lahore, Agra and Islamabad Summits and Recognition of Taliban to identify major actors and influencing factors in shaping foreign policy.