ISLAMABAD: The reception hosted by Chinese Defence Attaché Major General Chen Wenrong to celebrate 92nd anniversary of the founding of Chinese People’s Liberation Army (CPLA) on Monday in a local hotel where Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) General Zubair Mahmood Hayat was the chief guest was an impressive show.
The guest kept discussing the ongoing visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to the United States and incidentally the timing of the reception was coinciding with the meeting between the prime minister and US President Donald Trump in Washington DC White House.
Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) General Qamar Javed Bajwa, ISI DG Lieutenant General Faiz Hameed and ISPR DG Major General Asif Ghafoor are in Washington and part of the delegation of the prime minister. Since senior officers of the three services attended the reception in a large number and they signified the presence of General Bajwa in the White House, and his engagements in the US capital.
The guests were of the view that military leadership inclusion in the prime minister’s delegation greatly helped in producing positive and meaningful outcome of the visit.
Large number of the guests expressed their dismay about the restriction on media in the country, and they were expecting that being the flag holder of democratic norms US leadership will agitate the matter with the visitors from Pakistan. The guests also discussed political developments inside Pakistan as Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani is going to face no-trust move by the opposition while Deputy Chairman Salim Mandviwala is confronting similar move by the government next week.
The united opposition has planned to observe black day throughout the country on Thursday which will be first anniversary of the polls of 2018. The opposition has been discarding the results of the general elections calling them widely rigged. The grand rally and public meeting of Maryam Nawaz Sharif in Faisalabad despite artificial hurdles and health issues of the most popular leader of the country and Quaid Pakistan Muslim League (PML-N) in Lahore’s prison were discussed by the guests. They expressed concern about it.
Former federal minister and builder of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Prof Ahsan Iqbal had brief discussion with Chinese ambassador in Pakistan Yao Jing regarding the CPEC. He appreciated Chinese leadership’s generous assistance and converting CPEC as flagship project of the Belt and Road initiative of President Xi Jinping.
Prof Ahsan Iqbal was of the view that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif rightly termed the corridor as game changer for the region that will change fate of the millions downtrodden of Pakistan and adjoining countries. Ambassador Yao Jing eulogised the contribution and role of Prof Ahsan Iqbal in executing important schemes of the CPEC.
Indian High Commissioner Ajay Absaria also turned up in the reception and the fellow guest tried to gather his impression about the visit of Prime Minister Imran Khan to the United States and possible reaction about it by his government.
Former Chief of Air Staff (CAS), retired Air Chief Marshal Tahir Rafiq Butt, retired Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman, former Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), retired Admiral Muhammad Asif Sandheela, Federal Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad were also among the guests. They thoroughly enjoyed the evening and hospitality of Chinese Embassy’s Defence Wing. General Zubair Mahmood Hayat, in his address, made it clear in implied manner that Pakistan and China’s cooperation would not allow any one as new monster in the region. He didn’t take name of any other country in this regard, but it was obvious reference was about India.