On 20 January 2004, the newly appointed High Commissioner of Pakistan to the United Kingdom HE Dr Maleeha Lodhi, gave a presentation on ‘Pakistan: Security Challenges and Response’. The meeting was chaired by Dr Gary Samore, IISS Director of Studies and Senior Fellow for Non-Proliferation.
Dr Maleeha Lodhi is a distinguished journalist, academic and diplomat. Following her PhD at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) in 1980, where she also taught till 1985, she became Editor of the widely-circulated Muslim newspaper in Pakistan. She was Editor of another major newspaper, The News, in 1990-1993 and 1997-1999. She has twice served as Pakistan's Ambassador to the US, in 1994-97 and 1999-2002. In March 2003, she was conferred Pakistan's highest civil award, the Hilal-e-Imtiaz, for setting the "highest standards of professional excellence" in diplomacy. In July 2003, she was appointed as Pakistan's High Commissioner to the UK.
During the presentation, High Commissioner Dr Maleeha Lodhi emphasised the need to continue an ‘uninterrupted and result-oriented’ peace process between India and Pakistan to resolve all issues of dispute – including Kashmir. The prospects for peace looked good but the Kashmir issue could not be set aside in Pakistan-India relations, she said. Both Pakistan and India need a vehicle without a reverse gear. Hopefully this time they have found one, she added. The next step to resume dialogue in February would be critical.
The agreement reached between Pakistan and India in Islamabad on January 6, 2004 was significant, as it recognised the importance of reaching solutions to their mutual satisfaction. This would inevitably involve give-and-take. The two countries needed to settle their disputes urgently if they had to address challenges like terrorism, extremism and poverty.
Pakistan was against an arms race in the region and believed its current deterrence sufficient to maintain peace in South Asia. Dr Lodhi emphasised that the two nuclear capable powers should not take the region over the next threshold of deploying nuclear weapons as that would create a hair-trigger environment in the region. Both countries should instead commit not to deploying ballistic missiles, and agree to a moratorium on further testing. She suggested that India and Pakistan should also conclude an agreement banning the induction and deployment of ABM systems, to prevent an arms race between the two countries. Pakistan had advocated the establishment of a Strategic Restraint Regime to reduce the risk of accidental or unauthorised use of nuclear weapons.
Pakistan was playing a key role in the international community's war against terror and had so far apprehended over 500 terrorists. It was for the first time that Pakistan had carried out effective operations in the tribal areas. It had deployed about 70,000 troops on its Western border. It had also set up more than 800 posts on its Western border and established a Quick Reaction Force to swiftly move against the terrorists. These measures had produced good results.
