With Trump ascending the throne of American presidency the regional powers are realigning themselves according to the changed scenario to the best of their interests. Starting from South Asia and then moving towards other regions we can notice one thing and that is a change in tactics, strategies, and alliances.  Trump’s election rhetoric of defeating China in a variety of power battles and of exterminating the so-called Islamic terrorism and extremism can drastically affect this region of South Asia. The primary interest of America in the region is to contain China by whatever means possible and for this purpose, she is using India as a tool and will continue to use it. This will have serious repercussions for Pakistan because increasing Indian influence means more external pressure on Pakistan from the West and especially from the United States. The other rhetoric can also prove destructive for Pakistan’s influence and stability because Pakistan is often connected with the sanctuaries of Islamic extremism on its soil on the western media. This will also give India its trump card to play with in future and to paint Kashmir freedom struggle as an issue of cross-border terrorism.

How to cope with this scenario is a billion dollar question that needs to be asked. The very first step that needed to be taken and has been taken is to enhance the strategic relationship with the regional giant and emerging superpower, China. The China-Pakistan economic corridor is one example of this strategic relationship but we need to expand this relationship in diverse fields and especially from the lens of technology-transfer, which can boost our economic base. Pakistan can use Chinese influence in its favour to at least keep a lid on Indian hatred and regional ambitions.

Secondly, we should and have been somewhat successful in mending ties with Russia after those bitter memories of the 90s. The Indian leap towards American’s bandwagon and the rise of ISIS-Khorasan in Afghanistan and border regions of Pakistan has compelled Russia to move towards Pakistan for closer cooperation in meeting these challenges. Pakistan needs to take full advantage of this opportunity and should involve other regional powers in consultation too to get more leverage over India.

Thirdly, closer cooperation with China and Russia on regional issues doesn’t mean that we start antagonising Washington, neither Pakistan can afford this nor Washington. We need to move to some sort of middle point which can help secure the regional interests of both without agreeing on all points. Pakistan should tell America that the use of terrorist proxies by India against Pakistan from the land of Afghanistan can never prove helpful for both countries. Rather this will start a new kind of race of using proxies somewhat similar to the nuclear race between the two countries.

Fourthly, Pakistan should rebuild its ties with the Gulf monarchies which were affected somewhat due to non-participation of Pakistani troops in the Yemen war and rightly so. We need to tell them that war is no solution to the problems and sooner or later they will have to sit down on the negotiating table to settle the dispute. At the same time, we can assure them that in the case of any military aggression against these countries we will be defending them at all stakes. This will help rebuild the lost trust between Pakistan and Gulf countries.

Apart from Gulf countries, Iran and Turkey are also important regional partners of Pakistan and we can use them as a leverage to counter Indian influence. Both these countries along with playing a major role in pacifying the Syrian war can play an equally important role to bring insurgent parties to the table and to sort out the Afghan imbroglio. The reduction of violence in Afghanistan will have positive economic and security effects on Pakistan.

Modi’s louder slogans of isolating Pakistan have proven to be a futile exercise in the wake of Pakistan increasing influence in the region with India’s exclusion from talks on Afghanistan in Moscow and the arrival of regional head states for ECO summit in Islamabad. We need to have a good relationship with regional powers because it can be used for our economic and strategic benefits but as a Pakistani, I must say that Charity lies at home. We must first put our house in order both in terms of economy and security to have more influence in the region.