US policies contributed to instability: Sartaj

Tells Senate Obama’s apprehensions outdated

ISLAMABAD: Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said on Monday that the US President Barack Obama’s apprehensions that parts of Pakistan would remain unstable for decades ‘appeared to be outdated’, hoping he (Obama) would be told one day that these apprehensions were wrong.

Winding up a debate on an adjournment motion by PML-Q Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed, the adviser maintained that President Obama’s apprehensions about Pakistan’s instability for decades were not correct. Mushahid’s motion sought discussion on the speech of Obama, which he delivered to the State of the Union, wherein he mentioned the name of Pakistan in the context of terrorism/ extremism and stated that instability would continue for decades in parts of Pakistan, which runs contrary to the claims of the Government of Pakistan on the successes of operation Zarb-e-Azb.

Sartaj said that the statement of the US president should be taken as a challenge by the Pakistani nation and show firm resolve to prove that our future was safe for which a number of key measures had been already taken.

He requested that the US president might ask his country’s top think tanks to see how much his country’s policies and of others had contributed to instability by waging the Afghan war, mounting the military operations in Iraq, Libya, Syria and elsewhere.

About the government’s policies after assuming power in 2013, the PM’s adviser said Pakistan remained a victim of militancy for three decades, which caused instability and Pakistan’s image was also tainted. He said the government had taken decisive policy decisions, which included focusing on internal security to deal with internal threat, as in the past along with US funding, holy warriors were prepared and sent across the border, who ultimately led to instability in the tribal areas during the Musharraf regime.

The adviser noted that the tide was turned two and a half years back by first launching an operation in Karachi, then Zarb-e-Azb, and the Army Public School tragedy led to the entire nation’s mobilisation against the menace of terrorism.   He continued in one year, Zarb-e-Azb had achieved 90 percent objectives and combing was under way in cities along with seminary reforms. As compared to 2014, he noted acts of terrorism had been reduced by 50 percent.  “On the external threat front, the government decided in August 2013 to accord priority to a policy of non-interference to ensure our own security and this saw our relations improved with India, Afghanistan and Iran,” he said.

Under this policy, he explained that instead of waging a war on the behalf of others, the government decided to make  Pakistan secure. As dividends of these measures, he noted, economic growth jumped to 4.5 percent and today there was no threat of economic meltdown.  Likewise, he said, there was no threat of political instability that should lead to chaos in Pakistan. 

Earlier, in their speeches, Senators Mushahid, Salahuddin Tirmizi and Abdul Qayyum of PML-N, Farhatullah Babar of PPP, Tahir Hussain Mashhadi and Muhammad Ali Saif of MQM, Sitara Ayaz of ANP, Hafiz Hamdullah of JUI-F and Taj Haider of PPP said that the US president’s warning should be taken seriously.

It was pointed out that the mastermind of APS attack Mullah Fazlullah of the TTP was in Afghanistan and the government did not seek his repatriation to Pakistan for action. By hanging some people, the incident could not be forgotten, one senator said.

The government was also warned that some elements were collecting funds in the name of Jihad, while others were also working by changing the name of their outfits.

The senators said that Pakistan fell prey to instability ever since it prepared and used non-state actors for strategic depth. Likewise, the banned Jaish-e-Muhammad’s Maulana Masood Azhar held a book-launching ceremony in Azad Kashmir and addressed it.

It was alleged that Pakistan had not changed its policy of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds even now, as Maulana Abdul Aziz who openly supported Daesh was not touched, for the government said there was no case against him and also no evidence.

“There is no change in the seminary syllabus even today,” remarked Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani, when it was said that during Zia’s regime, terms Jehad, gun, etc, were included in the syllabus.

The House took Hafiz Hamdullah’s statement by surprise when he described Ziaul Haq as a secular person, as he had not been a seminary student.

Some treasury senators, including Abdul Qayyum, rejected outright Obama’s statement, reminding him that the US policies caused instability in Pakistan and in the region. The senators asked Pakistan to cement its relations with the neighbouring countries and stop relying on the US.