CSS 2017 Solved Pakistan Affairs | SCO and its Significance for Pakistan
The following question of CSS Pakistan Affairs 2017 is solved by Hamda Faisal under the supervision of Miss Iqra Ali, the best Pakistan Affairs Coach, on the guided pattern of Sir Syed Kazim Ali, which he taught to his students, scoring the highest marks in compulsory subjects for years. This solved past paper question is uploaded to help aspirants understand how to crack a topic or question, how to write relevantly, what coherence is, and how to include and connect ideas, opinions, and suggestions to score the maximum.
Outline
1-Introduction
2-Brief Overview of the SCO
- ✓Member States and the Reasons for Formation
- ✓Objectives and Principles of the SCO
- ✓Current Status and Significance
3-Significance of the SCO for Pakistan
- ✓Security Significance
- SCO’s “three force” agenda to combat terrorism, extremism and separatism
- Crackdown on using the internet and other channels—hybrid and 5th gen warfare
- Counter Terrorism Military Exercises (CTMEs)
- ✓Economic Significance
- Promotion of trade and cooperation in resource-rich regions like CARs and Russia
- Mitigation of Pakistan’s impending energy crisis by completing TAPI and IP gas pipelines
- Transit for land-locked Central Asian Republics and Russia
- ✓Regional Connectivity
- SCO Road Development Program
- A platform to improve the relationship with Russia
- Historical heritage and tourism potential
- ✓Educational Significance
- Exchange programs with the 74 SCO universities
- Possible establishment of some SCO universities in Pakistan
- ✓Health Cooperation
- Pandemic and post-pandemic research and facility exchange
- Potential pharmaceutical partnerships
4-Challenges and Possible Suggestions for the SCO
5-Critical Analysis
6-Conclusion
Answer to the Question
Introduction
With over twenty years since its establishment, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) has grown from its original eight (08) members to currently twenty-six (26) permanent, observer, and dialogue members. The SCO is an inter-governmental regional organization established for the pursuit of mutual security, political, and economic benefits. Not only it is important for the collective regional development, but it is also equally significant for Pakistan to strengthen its regional ties, especially with Central Asian Republics (CARs) and Russia. The organization gives Pakistan an opportunity to deepen relationships and work for mutual rewards by exploiting its geostrategic location at the centre of the bloc. In the same way, the SCO has significance and potential in security, economy, regional connectivity, education, and health for Pakistan. With the support of the SCO’s established organizational institutes and initiating bilateral relationships and trade agreements with other member states, Pakistan can utilize the SCO platform to improve its economic, security, and social prospects. However, some possible challenges such as differing national interests, bureaucratic inefficiencies, and geopolitical tensions can hinder the effectiveness of results and possible outcomes. Despite these challenges, the SCO can become a regional giant enhancing mutual development and security of the region. Thus, the SCO has significant potential in several spheres, especially for Pakistan, and shows a potential for the development of the Central and South Asian countries.
Overview of the SCO
Pakistan and India became members of the SCO in 2017, joining the six member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO): Russia, China, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan. The SCO’s first expansion since 2001, and Iran gained permanent membership in 2023. Likewise, the SCO was first formed out of the mutual question of security and resolving border disputes between the newly established Central Asian Republics (CARs) and Russia and between Russia and China. Furthermore, the SCO values regional peace, security, and stability. It promotes cooperation in multiple political, economic, and cultural spheres. In addition to this, the SCO is significant in its size and part of the global world. It spans about three-fifths of the Eurasian continent, with over three billion or 42% of the worldwide population. It covers about 32% of the global GDP, which indicates the SCO’s importance and significance in the economy and trade. Currently, the SCO is expected to grant Belarus permanent membership in 2024’s annual summit while also reviewing and potentially accepting dialogue partners and upgrading some dialogue partners to observer partners.
Significance of the SCO for Pakistan
The SCO presents multi-fold significance for Pakistan, spanning security, economics, regional connectivity, education, and health. It combines the role of the currently established treaties in providing benefits to Pakistan while also exploring the potential benefits Pakistan can frame for gain.
- Security Significance
As the SCO was established initially to mitigate security concerns, its inherent mechanism and institutional structure also provide essential avenues to counter security threats in Pakistan. The SCO has a “three force” agenda designed to combat terrorism, extremism and separatism from the region—all three of which are plaguing Pakistan and hindering its growth. Moreover, with the strong emphasis of the SCO on sharing intelligence data and enhancing connectivity, it provides significant resources in combating hybrid and 5th generational warfare. With a more robust surveillance system, Pakistan can be better prepared to counter these forces from anti-state agencies and groups. Likewise, there are Counter Terrorism Military Exercises (CTMEs) under the SCO, which Pakistan hosted in 2021 and India hosted in 2021. From it, Pakistan benefits from advanced electronic surveillance and technological intelligence. If all combined to combat the security threats from outside and inside the border of Pakistan, it is easy to envision a bright future ahead.
- Economic Significance
The SCO greatly emphasizes economic and trade opportunities for the mutual development of the region under its token of ‘Shanghai Spirit’. Through it, Pakistan stands to avail multiple courses of action to address its economic shortfalls. First, Pakistan stands to benefit from trade with resource regions like CARs, especially Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Russia. Second, Pakistan can mitigate and address its energy crisis by finally bringing about the completion of long-stalled projects like Iran-Pakistan (IP) and Turkmenistan-Adghanistan-Pakistan-India (TAPI) gas pipelines. These potential economic benefits within the SCO can foster a sense of optimism in the audience about Pakistan’s economic growth.
- Regional Connectivity
The SCO’s Road Development program aims to improve regional connectivity. It stands to provide great benefit for Pakistan because it wants to utilize its unique geostrategic location to enhance connectivity and increase imports. For this, Pakistan also presented a proposal to connect Karachi and Gwadar to the main routes of SCO in 2018, which was subsequently accepted. Moreover, Pakistan stands to improve its relationships with Russia through the SCO platform. With the previous souring elements out of the way, like a tilt towards the USA and India’s preference, Pakistan has an opportunity to make amends with Russia. Furthermore, the SCO offers educational significance for Pakistan, with exchange programs with the 74 SCO Universities and the possible establishment of some SCO universities in Pakistan. These educational opportunities can inspire hope in the audience about Pakistan’s educational development.
- Educational Significance
Currently, 74 universities are established in SCO member countries that promote cross-cultural and educational exchanges. Pakistan must benefit significantly from such programs, as education and culture exchange problems enhance people-to-people connections and reduce the chances of extremist factors in society. Moreover, establishing an international SCO university in Pakistan would increase the number of these exchanges and increase the participation of Pakistani culture in the overall SCO cultural and educational exchange.
- Health Cooperation
With China and Russia at the helm of the SCO, the organization’s member states benefit significantly from the pandemic research and health facilities, from the distribution of free vaccination to the sharing of medical research data. Moving on, the SCO can provide tools to contain global and regional epidemic spreads and potential protection against biowarfare. In addition, Pakistan has also recently shown commitment to availing of the SCO pharmaceutical partnerships, where Chinese and other member states’ companies will be invited to invest in Pakistan. It dramatically enhances public health and safety.
Challenges and Possible Suggestions for the SCO
The SCO will lose its significance and become another non-operational regional organization like SAARC if it succumbs to the challenges teetering at its side. The main challenges that stand to undermine its authority and functionality are the intensification of the power game among the considerable permanent members based on conflict of interests and the involvement of the USA in the region. As China, India, and Russia each follow their national interest to consolidate power and economic might to become a regional hegemon, the functionality of the SCO would be compromised. Moreover, if the USA continues to invade the region over security issues—as witnessed by the subsequent and dragged wars on Iraq and then Afghanistan—the efforts of the SCO to maintain and promote regional peace and prosperity would be like emptying a sea with a bucket, essentially useless with no impact whatsoever.
However, the challenges can be mitigated by developing a regional outlook and focusing on region-specific research and policymaking. In this way, the SCO can address issues like poverty and white-collar crimes and devise ways to counter and alleviate the woes. Furthermore, the SCO countries can establish a barter trade system or trade in local currencies to address the dollar hegemony and evade the influence of the USA in the region. By focusing on youth and women by making separate councils to uplift and bridge the regional gaps between countries, the SCO is on the track to becoming a strong, functioning regional organization.
Critical Analysis
Despite challenges and chances of backsliding, the SCO still possesses excellent potential and significance for Pakistan to push itself out of the pitfall of problems. Pakistan has readily made moves to smooth out not only its acceptance into the organization but also attended each meeting diligently and presented proposals to gain maximum benefit for the organization. By increasing opportunities to collaborate on the fronts of security, economy and trade, education and technology, and health, the SCO has proved incredibly significant for Pakistan, has helped it mitigate and contain many problems, and has shown ways for future development and prosperity.
Conclusion
Thus, in conclusion, the SCO is an active regional inter-governmental organization operating on “Shanghai Spirit” and aiming to enhance conditions of security, politics, and economy for the collective benefit of all the regional countries and the member states. Its belief that individual growth and development are only possible with the collective growth and development of the region has opened up avenues of growth and collaboration, especially for Pakistan and has great benefit in terms of security and data sharing to curb non-state and anti-state actors, in the economy by enhancing trade opportunities, in education and technology, in strengthening regional connectivity, and last, in health. Moreover, it has shown potential for increased significance and activity in the region if it can bypass the potential challenges and maintain the focus on its objectives.
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