Pakistan: Sartaj Aziz’s statement on selective targeting of militants questioned in Senate

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Advisor Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz’s interview to the BBC on Monday in which he questioned the wisdom of targeting all militant groups without discrimination has been questioned in the Senate through a calling attention today.

In reply to a question Sartaj Aziz had told the BBC ‘why should we antagonize all groups (of militants)”.

Attention is drawn to a matter of sufficient public importance namely the Advisor’s interview to the BBC on Nov 17, 2014 admitting the selective nature of operation against militant groups, taking on some while leaving others.

The statement by the Advisor Foreign Affairs is a reversal of the stated policy of across the board action against all militants reiterated recently also by the security establishment, the calling attention notice says.

It says that in the interview a disturbing distinction has been made between militants challenging the state of Pakistan and those, using Pakistan’s soil, launch violent operations against other states in the region. “It exposes Pakistan to the charge that it is running with the hare and hunting with the hound in the fight against militants”.

This highly disturbing admission at the highest level of policy formulation of turning a blind eye to non-state actors bent upon destabilizing foreign states through violent means is a matter of sufficient public importance and calls for urgent attention, says the calling attention notice moved by PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar.