Arrey bhai, we need thriving neighborhood to get more prosperity and trade. More prosperity means more consumers
No.
Most of our strategic issues stem from domestic and trans-border conflict.
Our economy is pretty much set to keep growing at a modest but steady rate. Not the case with our security.
A two front war would absolutely ruin us in the short term (victory or loss won't matter at all in the long run).
If Pakistan keeps falling deeper into conflict on the various divides (ethnic, sectarian, separatist), we not only get some relief on our borders but also get to learn more about security issues in the neighborhood.
Look at what Israel did-
Syria was a strong regional rival and would've definitely taken back Golan Heights back if it was thriving.
Similarly, Jordan was a pretty strong rival (a bit reluctant though) and when it got a taste of what harboring Palestinian militias could do (the events leading to Black September), it backed off, knowing full well that all form of stability would be lost and any conventional parity with an hypothetically aggressive Israel would be impossible. In exchange for that, Israel didn't pursue a focused destabilization program against them.
Egypt was forced to sign a peace deal after losing half their country and having to live with it for 15 years.
Now Egypt can't even think of violating that treaty anymore because of the state of Sinai with various islamist terror groups, who, if sponsored by a strong foreign entity like Israel would plunge the region into perpetual chaos.
The phase that comes after such a move by Israel is what can clearly be seen in Syria.
My point is, if Israel merely maintained a reactive posture instead of a strong proactive approach, it would've become "Isnotreal". And what happened to Israel? It's one of the most prosperous countries in the Middle East and doesn't have a fragile economy solely dependent on oil.
What would've happened if Israel tried to keep a "thriving" neighborhood? It's economic growth may have possibly been better till it ceased to exist. And it WOULD cease to exist. Pretty much a done deal by early 1980s.
Of course some of you would throw the point around about "hurr durr Israeli lobby in Pantiegon!" but that's proving my point more than anything else. They saw the convenience of having lobbyists in Murica to help themselves navigate their conflict ridden neighborhood's politics and they put them there. It was a conscious, strategic move and not some lucky "ooh I found oil in the middle of the desert" magic boom.
You don't pursue wealth at the cost of security, especially if your neighbors are raging ideological lunatics.
Another relevant but somewhat dissimilar case would be Rhodesia. One of the most prosperous country in Africa bought to it's knees and then destroyed even with a strong economy (relative to it's neighbors) because of conflict. The country is now called "Zimbabwe" and it ain't doing too hot, if you know what I mean....
TLDR- Just like you don't take thyroid medications for diabetes, you don't alleviate your security issues by focusing on economic growth. If any country takes this approach, they'll be sucker-punched, gutted and buried and it'll be no one's fault but their own. Of course there is some carryover between the two (you can't have a strong security apparatus with dogshit economy and vice versa) but pursuing one of the two in exclusion of the other will inevitably cause a collapse of both of them.
And if our neighbors thrive, we have gone so incredibly wrong in our international relations and geopolitical affairs, we might as well roll over and die instead of giving them the satisfaction of delivering the killing blow.