ISLAMABAD - A ruling Pakistan Muslim League (Nawaz) lawmaker yesterday rapped the government’s foreign policy seeking ‘elimination’ of Jamaatud Dawah chief Hafiz Mohamed Saeed.
At a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs here, PML-N leader Rana Mohammed Afzal claimed the foreign policy was a “failure” as yet “we are unable to eliminate elements like Hafiz Saeed.” He demanded immediate action against the JuD chief.
The development came as Pakistan and India are going through a phase of high tensions amid the human rights violations in Kashmir and the last month’s attack in Uri that killed several Indian soldiers.
Afzal said India had created such a perception of the global community regarding Hafiz Saeed that the world considered him as the main reason for the hostile relations between Pakistan and India.
He said that such obstacles must be eliminated because of whom the world was trying to isolate Pakistan at global level.
Hafiz Saeed, one the most wanted persons in India, has been blamed for masterminding terror attacks in held Kashmir and India including the 2008 Mumbai carnage that killed 166 people. The JuD chief denies the allegations saying he is only engaged in charity works.
Afzal recalled a trip to France where he had gone on a diplomatic mission to make Paris aware about atrocities committed by Indian security forces in Jammu and Kashmir. But Saeed was “brought up time and again” during his meetings in France,” he said.
The lawmaker questioned whether Saeed was good or bad for the Kashmir cause and said that banned outfits, like the Lashkar-e-Taiba and Jaish-e-Mohammed, were a source of “embarrassment” for Pakistan.
Separately, yesterday, Pakistan People’s Party Senator Aitzaz Ahsan held Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif responsible for the postponement of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation summit in Pakistan.
Ahsan, speaking on the second day of the parliament’s joint sitting, said Prime Minister - in his speech - did not utter a single word against Kulbhushan Yadav, the Indian spy arrested from Balochistan.
The PPP Senator also lashed out at the federal government over not having a foreign minister since it came into power. He said Pakistan and India will not engage into a formal conflict as the both countries are nuclear powers.
Earlier, National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs was briefed by Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry on the Pak-India relations in the current situations, latest Indian aggression along the Line of Control and postponement of Islamabad SAARC Summit.
Aizaz Chaudhry informed the committee that dossiers about the Indian spy Kulbushan Yadav’s arrest and Indian involvement to destabilize Pakistan had been prepared. He said that the dossiers will soon be sent to countries around the world.
The meeting was chaired by Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari. The members who attended the meeting included Muhammad Asim Nazir, Sahibzada Muhammad Nazeer Sultan, Muhammad Khan Daha, Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, Dr Nafisa Shah and Senior Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The foreign secretary informed the Committee in detail about the atrocities committed by the Indian forces for the last three months in Kashmir and actions taken by Pakistan so far including the speech of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to United Nations General Assembly, progress on the initiative of the PM regarding sending of Special Envoys to different countries, decision of the last Cabinet meeting on Kashmir, unanimous resolution issued by heads of the parliamentary leaders in the Prime Minister Secretariat last week and deliberation of the Joint sitting of the Parliament.
Regarding the postponement of SAARC summit in Islamabad he assured that such move by India is not tantamount to Pakistan regional and global isolation.
The members raised a number of questions and also shared their experiences during their visit abroad and meetings with different parliamentarians, important government functionaries, think tanks and Pakistani Kashmiri Diaspora.
The Chairman highlighted his visit to Geneva and concrete initiatives taken by the United Nations Human Rights Commission while issuing a statement regarding sending of fact finding mission to the both sides of the LoC by the High Commissioner of Human Rights Commission which is considered an excellent achievement on diplomatic front for Pakistan, an official statement said.
Further, the Chairman also reminded the Committee about the recommendations made by this Committee on Pakistan-India relations a few months back which was also sent to Ministry of Foreign Affairs for implementation.
But the Chairman regretted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not taken it seriously otherwise “we can avoid some of the issues being confronted by the country right now.”
He also said that the Committee will again recommend some suggestion like water diplomacy as well as a need to conduct as study/assessment to manage damage control strategy in case India revoke unilaterally Indus river water treaty.
At the start of the meeting deferred the agenda item ‘The Ratification of International Treaties Bill, 2013’ in the next Committee meeting as the mover, Dr Shireen Mazari, was not present.
He apprised the Committee about the ground situation regarding the Kashmir dispute and asked the Foreign Secretary to give a comprehensive account of latest official version of the Foreign Office’s on the remaining agenda.