ISLAMABAD: The government’s foreign policy will come under parliamentary scrutiny in the coming week as Prime Minister’s Adviser Sartaj Aziz is scheduled to brief the standing committees concerned of National Assembly and Senate on key issues.

The adviser will brief the National Assembly’s standing committee on Monday on an “updated assessment of Pakistan’s relations with Afghanistan, including prospects for peace and reconciliation” and on the issue of Pakistanis languishing in jails of various countries, according to the agenda for the meeting.

On June 25, Mr Aziz is scheduled to give a comprehensive briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs with reference to Pakistani’s relations with China, Russia, the United States, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia and Iran.

The adviser, according to the agenda, is also required to brief the members of the committee headed by Senator Nuzhat Sadiq of PML-N on “steps being taken by the Foreign Office at the diplomatic front to expose India’s role in the break-up of Pakistan in 1971 and its declared policy of destabilising Pakistan through terrorism”.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while receiving a ‘liberation war honour’ on behalf of former prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee during a visit to Bangladesh this month, had stated that he had been one of the activists who had reached Delhi in response to Mr Vajpayee’s call for “Satyagraha” for the “liberation of Bangladesh in 1971”.

The Foreign Office later said the comments “only confirmed Pakistan’s stance on India’s negative role against a sovereign neighbouring state”.

Pakistan has also urged the international community to take notice of India’s admission of interfering in former East Pakistan.

Mr Aziz will also apprise the Senate committee of the decisions reached at a recent meeting of the Pakistan-US Working Group on Security, Strategic Stability and Non-Proliferation.

The members will be informed about the recommendations of a ministerial committee constituted by the prime minister on the issue of Rohingya Muslims of Myanmar.

The Senate committee is also scheduled to take up the issues of the stranded Pakistanis in Bangladesh and non-issuance of visas to Pakistani citizens by Kuwait.

Similarly, the NA committee’s members will not only seek details and data about Pakistanis in prisons of other countries, but also inquire about the “role of the Foreign Office and Pakistani embassies, consulates general and consulates abroad in assisting” detained, under-trial and convicted overseas Pakistanis.

The issue of the increasing number of Pakistanis in foreign jails has come under discussion in both houses of parliament several times in the recent past.

The NA committee comprises a number of political heavyweights and key members like former foreign minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf, Muttahida Qaumi Movement’s Dr Farooq Sattar, Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party’s chief Mehmood Khan Achakzai, former interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao, Shireen Mazari, Ghous Bux Mahar, Tehmina Daultana, Marvi Memon, Daniyal Aziz, former speaker Dr Fehmida Mirza and Amir Haider Khan.

PPP’s Farhatullah Babar, PML-Q’s Mushahid Hussain Syed, PML-F’s Syed Muzaffar Hussain Shah and MQM’s Tahir Mashhadi are among the members of the Senate committee.

Published in Dawn, June 22nd, 2015

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