Abstract
This article is written in the backdrop of Pakistan’s General elections 2018, held on July 25, 2018. As a result of which new government of Paksitan Tehrik-I insaf (PTI) has come into power. The new Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Ahmed Khan Niazi has promised a new Pakistan in his maiden speech by emphasizing the citizen’s rights to dignity, need for provision of services/ welfare by state, need for institutional and behavioral change with the supremacy of law. Apparently, Prime Minister’s first speech depicts that he is vowed to fulfil his promises which the nation and country faces both internally and externally yet things are different when one has the executive power and run the show. The new government has taken the command of the country at a time when it is amongst challenges and opportunities with regard to the issues of national security, foreign policy, its soaring relations with the US, India and Afghanistan. Nation-building and the state-building have been the enormous challenges to Pakistan right from 1947 which persist even to date. Undoubtedly these relations over the period of time have transformed into different shapes with the regional perspective. The article discusses external challenges of the country vis-a-viz its foreign policy approach that the new government is to face in the days to come. Therefore it remains a million dollar question how new government in Pakistan will be able to fill the gaps of the trust-deficits in neighborhood, particularly with India, Afghanistan and US and this is the main argument of the article. It concludes with a ‘way forward approach’ that can be adopted for effective long-term national security policy together with national imperative.