Get the latest news and updates from Dawn
The international order is entering a period of profound change. Long-standing assumptions about alliances, trade relationships and security guarantees are being reassessed. Countries that once viewed globalisation as an unqualified good are increasingly asking a different question: how much dependence is too much?
For Pakistan, sovereignty is therefore not primarily a military or diplomatic concept. It is an economic one. A country that depends on others to finance its budget, supply its energy, provide critical technologies or process its strategic resources inevitably finds its room for independent decision-making constrained. Pakistan’s greatest strategic challenge is reducing the vulnerabilities that limit its ability to make choices in the national interest.
The first pillar of sovereignty is external financial independence. For decades, Pakistan has relied on remittances, multilateral support, bilateral deposits and external borrowing to bridge recurring balance-of-payments gaps. These have helped avert crises, but they have not addressed the underlying weakness: the economy does not generate sufficient foreign exchange through exports and productive investment.
