Participants of a conference were stunned when parliamentary leader of Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Haji Adeel and head of Indian delegation and former member of Rajya Sabha, Shahid Siddiqui, exchanged heated arguments on the issue of terrorism.
The ‘Citizen’s First International Conference on Democratisation of Public Policies’ was organised by South Asia Partnership Pakistan and attended by parliamentarians, intellectuals, decision makers and politicians from Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
Haji Adeel, while discussing the issue of extremism and terrorism, said: “If Pakistan faced defeat in war against extremism, tomorrow India will be affected and day after tomorrow, war will further spread. So India and Pakistan should cooperate and fight terrorism together.”
The senator’s comments irritated Shahid Siddiqui. “Pakistanis should concentrate on its internal issues rather than focusing on India,” he retorted.
“Pakistan sends terrorists to India and Mumbai attacks are witness to it. They (Pakistanis) should resolve their internal issues instead of being concerned about the problems of Indians, especially Muslims,” he said.
Haji Adeel told him that he had talked in good faith and wanted to secure the future of Indians. At this, Shahid Siddiqui said had Pakistanis been competent enough, they would not have lost half of the country.
While talking to Dawn, Shahid Siddiqui said that he was annoyed by the comments of the Pakistani senator.
“Indian Muslims have a lot of problems but they want to resolve their issues without the help of Pakistan. For long, Pakistani and Indian establishments have been playing with the sentiments of the peoples of the two countries for their vested interests,” he said.
“I have been struggling for the rights of the Indian Muslims and many a time went to jail but it does not mean I want Pakistan’s help. Kashmiris have been struggling for the freedom but Pakistan has nothing to do with it. It (Pakistan) is creating problems for the Indian Muslims rather than solving them,” he said.
The objectives of the conference were to engage stakeholders in a consultative process to address security challenges and to suggest recommendations for their solution.
The director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais, said citizens’ welfare was the prime responsibility of the state which was not possible without taxing them.
“If the government fails to collect tax then it has to borrow from international financial institutions on high interest rate, and to pay the loan back, it has to make budgetary allocations which in return affect socio-economic development of the country,” he said.
Senator Rauf Lala from Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party said that Pakistan’s foreign policy was made against the will of the people and based on safeguarding our borders which could be protected by establishing good relations with the neighbouring countries.
“Unless there is peace in Afghanistan and India, there cannot be peace in Pakistan.
Nice and friendly relations with neighbours would also reduce the defence budget,” he said.
Member of Afghan Parliament Ms Shah Gul Rezai said that non-intervention and good relations with neighbouring countries must be the major principal of our foreign policy.
“Afghanistan believes that roots of all the conflicts are outside of Afghanistan. Therefore, its foreign policy is focused on establishing good relations with neighbouring countries. Peace and security in Afghanistan is linked with the peace and security in the world,” she said.
Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, director, School of Political and International Relations, said that foreign policy had two components i.e. domestic and foreign. In this context, Pakistan is not free to form its foreign policy but it is compelled to base its foreign policies on the situation of insecure borders.
Former member of Planning Commission, Dr Pervez Tahir, said that the issue of human security was first raised by the United Nations. Poverty has also been given some dimension of security.
Economic security includes the issues of health, food, environmental protection, personal and education security.
The head of Indian delegation, Dr Shahid Siddiqui, said that in South Asia people regard elections as a prerequisite for the success of democracy but it was not like that. Intra-party elections too were very important to strengthen democracy. “If there is no democracy in the party, there is no democracy in the state,” he added.
Political analyst Harris Khalique said people need security rather than territories. He said everyone was talking about polio vaccination but no one talked about the fact that children were suffering from malnutrition.
Wednesday, October 30, 2013
ANP senator, ex-Indian MP exchange hot words over terrorism issue
Participants of a conference were stunned when parliamentary leader of Awami National Party (ANP) Senator Haji Adeel and head of Indian delegation and former member of Rajya Sabha, Shahid Siddiqui, exchanged heated arguments on the issue of terrorism.
The ‘Citizen’s First International Conference on Democratisation of Public Policies’ was organised by South Asia Partnership Pakistan and attended by parliamentarians, intellectuals, decision makers and politicians from Pakistan, India and Afghanistan.
Haji Adeel, while discussing the issue of extremism and terrorism, said: “If Pakistan faced defeat in war against extremism, tomorrow India will be affected and day after tomorrow, war will further spread. So India and Pakistan should cooperate and fight terrorism together.”
The senator’s comments irritated Shahid Siddiqui. “Pakistanis should concentrate on its internal issues rather than focusing on India,” he retorted.
“Pakistan sends terrorists to India and Mumbai attacks are witness to it. They (Pakistanis) should resolve their internal issues instead of being concerned about the problems of Indians, especially Muslims,” he said.
Haji Adeel told him that he had talked in good faith and wanted to secure the future of Indians. At this, Shahid Siddiqui said had Pakistanis been competent enough, they would not have lost half of the country.
While talking to Dawn, Shahid Siddiqui said that he was annoyed by the comments of the Pakistani senator.
“Indian Muslims have a lot of problems but they want to resolve their issues without the help of Pakistan. For long, Pakistani and Indian establishments have been playing with the sentiments of the peoples of the two countries for their vested interests,” he said.
“I have been struggling for the rights of the Indian Muslims and many a time went to jail but it does not mean I want Pakistan’s help. Kashmiris have been struggling for the freedom but Pakistan has nothing to do with it. It (Pakistan) is creating problems for the Indian Muslims rather than solving them,” he said.
The objectives of the conference were to engage stakeholders in a consultative process to address security challenges and to suggest recommendations for their solution.
The director general of the Institute of Strategic Studies, Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais, said citizens’ welfare was the prime responsibility of the state which was not possible without taxing them.
“If the government fails to collect tax then it has to borrow from international financial institutions on high interest rate, and to pay the loan back, it has to make budgetary allocations which in return affect socio-economic development of the country,” he said.
Senator Rauf Lala from Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party said that Pakistan’s foreign policy was made against the will of the people and based on safeguarding our borders which could be protected by establishing good relations with the neighbouring countries.
“Unless there is peace in Afghanistan and India, there cannot be peace in Pakistan.
Nice and friendly relations with neighbours would also reduce the defence budget,” he said.
Member of Afghan Parliament Ms Shah Gul Rezai said that non-intervention and good relations with neighbouring countries must be the major principal of our foreign policy.
“Afghanistan believes that roots of all the conflicts are outside of Afghanistan. Therefore, its foreign policy is focused on establishing good relations with neighbouring countries. Peace and security in Afghanistan is linked with the peace and security in the world,” she said.
Zafar Nawaz Jaspal, director, School of Political and International Relations, said that foreign policy had two components i.e. domestic and foreign. In this context, Pakistan is not free to form its foreign policy but it is compelled to base its foreign policies on the situation of insecure borders.
Former member of Planning Commission, Dr Pervez Tahir, said that the issue of human security was first raised by the United Nations. Poverty has also been given some dimension of security.
Economic security includes the issues of health, food, environmental protection, personal and education security.
The head of Indian delegation, Dr Shahid Siddiqui, said that in South Asia people regard elections as a prerequisite for the success of democracy but it was not like that. Intra-party elections too were very important to strengthen democracy. “If there is no democracy in the party, there is no democracy in the state,” he added.
Political analyst Harris Khalique said people need security rather than territories. He said everyone was talking about polio vaccination but no one talked about the fact that children were suffering from malnutrition.
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