ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) once again raised the issue of Pakistan’s “ambiguous” role in the Saudi-led 34-nation military alliance in the National Assembly on Friday.
On two separate points of order, PTI leaders accused the government of running the country’s diplomacy in a highly personalised way and in sheer disregard of the concerns expressed by parliament.
The party’s chief whip, Dr Shireen Mazari, said the government continued to beat about the bush regarding its engagement with the Saudis and each time came up with a different explanation that made no sense with regard to the ground realities.
“The government has repeatedly said that the purpose of this alliance is to fight against extremism and militancy in the region, but the recently-concluded military exercise named ‘North Thunder’ was conducted under the alliance purely along conventional lines,” said Dr Mazari, who has throughout been critical of the government’s decision to be part of the alliance. She wondered if the government had decided to join the Saudis, why did it not accept it on the floor of the house.
If tomorrow, the prime minister or the army chief decided to be part of the Saudis’ military ambitions in the region, where would the role of this parliament lie, she questioned. “This house deserves to be aware of the government’s plans regarding this military alliance.”
Taking the floor, PTI’s Dr Arif Alvi questioned whether the government had decided in principle to be a member of the all-Sunni alliance. “I just want to ask if the government has any plans to take up the issue of the exclusion of Shia nations from the alliance,” he said, adding that it was a very serious issue and the government could not afford to ignore it any longer as it could have serious repercussions for the region.
Earlier, during the question-answer session, PTI’s Sajida Begum wanted to know how the country would benefit from being part of the alliance. In a written reply, the ministry of foreign affairs said: “Pakistan has consistently supported all regional and international efforts to combat militancy, extremism and terrorism. Since the key objective of the alliance is to counter the threat posed by terrorist groups, Pakistan has joined the alliance.”
It added that Operation Zarb-i-Azb was launched to fight terrorist groups within the country and Pakistan was expected to share its counter-terrorism experience with the other interested member countries.
Responding on behalf of the prime minister, who holds charge of the foreign ministry, PML-N’s Khurram Dastgir Khan said that the alliance was still evolving and the government couldn’t precisely explain its role at this point in time. The federal minister for commerce admitted, however, that although the focus of the alliance was anti-terrorism, the situation was very complicated. “The situation in the Middle East is very complex. It needs deft handling, which forces the government to keep its stance ambiguous,” said Mr Khan.
Speaking about Iran, the minister said the government was aware that it couldn’t ignore its neighbour and “we are hoping for positive developments towards this end in the near future”, apparently referring to the coming visit of the Iranian president later this month.http://www.dawn.com/news/1246670/pti-lawmakers-grill-govt-over-saudi-led-alliance
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