Pakistan: Opposition in Senate rejects adviser’s ‘sketchy’ policy statement

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Ill-prepared cabinet members brought embarrassment to the government in the Senate on Tuesday, with Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz bearing the brunt of criticism over what the opposition termed sketchy statement on foreign policy.

Rejecting the adviser’s eight-minute policy statement after a debate on the country’s foreign policy with particular reference to the situation likely to emerge after elections in India and Afghanistan, the opposition members staged a walkout to register their protest over the speech which they said was “an insult to the house”.

“We receive more information from the Foreign Office spokesperson at her weekly briefings than the adviser has provided to this house today,” said Raza Rabbani of the PPP as Mr Aziz took his seat after the speech. Mr Rabbani regretted that the adviser did not make any mention about Pakistan-India relations, the ongoing dialogue with the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and the recent visit of the US deputy secretary of state to Pakistan. “We don’t accept this as a policy statement,” Mr Rabbani said, urging the ruling party not to “make the parliament redundant”. “Look at the seriousness of the government members,” Mr Rabbani said while pointing towards Leader of the House Raja Zafarul Haq, who was the lone member sitting on the treasury benches.

Describing Mr Aziz as “ignorant and innocent”, Opposition Leader Chaudhry Aitzaz Ahsan coined a new word, “ignocent”, for the adviser. “We feel sorry. This is an insult to the house. The ministers do not give replies to our questions and we stage walkout against it,” Mr Ahsan declared before walking out of the house, forcing Deputy Chairman Sabir Baloch to adjourn the sitting till Wednesday afternoon. Mr Ahsan had already put the adviser on the defensive, when during the debate earlier he had asked the prime minister to appoint a fully fledged foreign minister. The PPP leader said Narendra Modi in India and Abdullah Abdullah in Afghanistan were being tipped as new rulers there and their views about Pakistan were well-known. “Both the countries will have strong governments and both of them do not have cordial relations with Pakistan,” he remarked.

“You have not been able to even put pressure on the Afghan government for handing over of (TTP chief) Fazlullah, who is openly patronising the groups in Pakistan which do not recognise our Constitution,” he said.

Mr Ahsan also criticised Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for inviting foreign investment in the country while keeping his own money overseas. He claimed that Mr Sharif was “the third biggest investor” in the UK after Hinduja Group and Lakshmi Mittal of India. Senator Farhatullah Babar of the PPP also took the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to task for, what he called, thoughtless endorsement of a questionable narrative that Osama bin Laden was tracked down in Abbottabad through a fake polio campaign. He said the statement from the FO spokesperson had come at a time when it was yet to be established exactly how Osama bin Laden was tracked down. In his winding up speech, Mr Aziz said the prime minister had stressed the need for pursuing “economic diplomacy” and was following the policy of “trade not aid”. He said the government had decided to adopt a “policy of non-interference” due to which the relationships between Pakistan and Afghanistan were improving. Mr Aziz said the government was cognizant of the changing situation in the region in the wake of elections in different countries.