ISLAMABAD: With little said by the government, distrust prevailed in parliament on Wednesday in the continuing debate on a Saudi request for Pakistani military help in the Yemen war — a meaningful gesture of hand by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif failing to allay opposition fears that he has already done a deal.

On the third day of the debate in a joint session of the National Assembly and Senate, demands from lawmakers grew that Pakistan better play the role of a peacemaker.

The prime minister’s gesture came during a speech by Senator Saeed Ghani of the opposition Pakistan People’s Party (PPP), who said the government’s refusal to elaborate on Defence Minister Khawaja Mohammad Asif’s statement that Saudi Arabia had requested Pakistan to join a Saudi-led coalition by contributing aircraft, naval vessels and ground troops indicated that commitments had already been made and might have been discussed as early as March 5 when Mr Sharif met King Salman during a sudden visit to Riyadh.

The prime minister, who was present in the house at the time, stretched his right hand towards the PPP senator and waved in no.

But the accuser, who is also PPP’s parliamentary leader in the Senate, seemed unconvinced.

Referring to the prime minister’s statement in the house on Tuesday that saying anything more than the defence minister’s statement on the opening day of the session on Monday would be improper, Senator Ghani said: “If everything is not placed before parliament, then (it seems) you have already done what you want us to do.”

Most lawmakers, who spoke during the three days of the debate, which will continue on Thursday, had complained about the ambiguity in the defence minister’s statement and demanded explanations about the government’s own response to the Saudi request and details like who will command the Pakistani troops, jets and vessels and who will bear expenses.

IN-CAERMA SESSION: The opposition leader in the National Assembly, Khursheed Ahmed Shah of PPP, had on Tuesday proposed holding another in-camera session of parliament where the government could give all these details, and the prime minister, at that time, had made a nod in an apparent agreement to the suggestion.

But there had been no official word about the possibility of an in-camera briefing until the house was adjourned till 4pm on Thursday.

There was also no official word by that time of what the prime minister had told the house on Tuesday would be message he expected by Wednesday from Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s talks with Iranian leaders.

Senator Ghani castigated the foreign ministry for allegedly keeping away from the Yemen crisis and not denying Saudi state media reports that cited Pakistan as a member of the coalition of at least 10 countries engaged in air strikes against Yemen’s Houthi rebels and rogue military units fighting against the forces loyal to Saudi-backed President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi.

He demanded that the defence minister share with the house what he had said in his April 6 statement of having had a better understanding of Saudi Arabia’s requirements during his visit there last week.

THREAT / NO THREAT, TO S. ARABIA: Earlier, Senator Abdul Qayyum of the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-N (PML-N), a retired lieutenant general who said he had served in Saudi Arabia for some time, claimed seeing a consensus developing in the debate and contradicted those who saw no danger to the territorial integrity of the kingdom that Pakistan has vowed to defend.

Arguing that Saudi Arabia did not have enough forces to defend its long border with Yemen, he said: “Threat to Saudi Arabia exists (though) it may not be an immediate threat.”

He said the Yemen crisis should not be seen in isolation from the chain of developments in the so-called Arab Spring, adding that Pakistan should play a role to defend the integrity of any friendly country without risking its own security.

But he also said that in the present situation, Pakistan should work for enforcing a ceasefire in Yemen, creation of a peacekeeping force for the troubled country and hosting a meeting of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) to deliberate on the issue.

But MNA Muzaffar Hussain Shah of the government-allied PML-Functional had a different view, saying earlier that Saudi Arabia’s sovereignty and territorial integrity was “not under threat”.

He asked for an explanation about whether the Saudis wanted to use the forces sought from Pakistan to strengthen their own defences or for operations in Yemen, and suggested a five-point plan that he wanted Pakistan to pursue along with the OIC and Arab League: Cessation of all hostilities in Yemen, enforcement of a ceasefire, establishment of an interim government commanding the confidence of all Yemeni factions, deployment of a UN or an Islamic peacekeeping force, and UN- or OIC-supervised elections.

Senator Usman Khan Kakar of the Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, a government ally, said it was not the holy sites in Saudi Arabia but kingship that faced a threat as a consequence of the Arab Spring, adding that any Pakistani contribution should be part of a solution rather than for escalating the Yemeni conflict.

MNA Shirin Mazari of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf opposed Pakistan playing any military role in the Yemen conflict and said it should rather do diplomacy together with Iran and Turkey to bring about peace there.

Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi of the Muttahida Qaumi Movement said Pakistan, as “the strongest Muslim state” because of its nuclear capability, should not participate in what he called a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran or be roped into a defence pact with any country, and that its priority should be humanitarian aid and peacekeeping.

MNA Shahzada Iftikharuddin of the All-Pakistan Muslim League of former president Pervez Musharraf noted that Houthi rebels had been pro-Saudi Arabia at one time and against it at another time, and said Pakistan should be part of a solution rather than of war.

Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour of the Awami National Party asked the government to learn a lesson from the consequences of Pakistan’s involvement in Afghanistan since the Soviet intervention there in the 1980s and try, along with other Muslim countries, to bring peace to Yemen.

ANGRY SHEIKH RASHID: The otherwise smooth proceedings of the house were interrupted for a while at the fag-end of the day when Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, head of the Awami Muslim League, questioned National Assembly Speaker Ayaz Sadiq during Senator Ghani’s speech why he was not being allowed to speak.

The speaker informed the MNA that his name was called to make a speech earlier in the day but he was found absent at the time and asked him to wait for his turn later in the debate.

The angry MNA remained seated for a few minutes even after the speaker adjourned the house after Senator Ghani’s speech, but later left the house, possibly to agitate again on Thursday, which could be last day of the joint session.

Published in Dawn, April 9th, 2015

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