KARACHI: Former Senate chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Friday called for establishing a parliamentary committee on national security comprising all stakeholders to be tasked with formulating terms of reference for an effective foreign policy.

“Such a committee had also been formed in the past; and we need it dearly for designing our future foreign policy. It should comprise all stakeholders and [be] tasked [with] formulating terms of reference that later [can] be passed by a joint sitting of parliament,” said Senator Rabbani while speaking at a distinguished lecture series held at the Festival of Arts and Ideas organised by the Sindh Madressatul Islam University (SMIU).

Mr Rabbani, a Pakistan Peoples Party leader, also demanded that the foreign affairs committees of the National Assembly and Senate be made functional.

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Besides, academics and students should also be involved to chip in for a handy foreign policy document, he added.

He said until the state policies were criticised and questioned, they could not be rectified.

He said that the Senate had passed a resolution demanding lifting of the ban on student unions in educational institutions, but no action had been taken as per its recommendation.

‘India behind terrorism in Balochistan’

Mr Rabbani termed absurd the Indian claims in which New Delhi blamed Pakistan for being involved in state-sponsored terrorism and said India itself was involved in terrorism in Balochistan and elsewhere in Pakistan.

“Indian-sponsored terrorism [is] taking place in Pakistan. Indian-sponsored terrorism [is] taking place in Balochistan,” he said.

He added that the worst violations of human rights were being committed in India-held Kashmir, where all international laws and norms were being violated as the rest of the world was criminally silent.

He asked where was the conscience of the West in Kashmir where children, women and men were being killed and maimed.

He said Muslims in India were being attacked and killed on the pretext of eating beef.

Mr Rabbani criticised the United States for continuously pressuring Pakistan to ‘do more’ despite the fact that the country had endured grave losses in terms of human casualties and economy while fighting the Afghan war on behalf of America.

He said Pakistan had been “gifted” to the US since its inception seven decades ago without involving then parliamentary forums or allowing academicians or experts to offer their views.

US slammed

He added since then Pakistan had been fighting on behalf of the US and in return the “imperialist state” had never acknowledged what Pakistan had done for it. Instead, they abandoned Pakistan after a given task was accomplished, he said.

He said that Americans had never protected the interests of Pakistan; instead they had always been concerned about their own interests. “Once their interests are fully served, they show no qualms in leaving us high and dry.”

He said Pakistan itself suffered the arrival of drugs and Kalashnikovs in its territory in the wake of the Afghan war. However, once the Americans got their job done, they never came to rescue Pakistan from such menaces.

Senator Rabbani said Pakistani autocratic rulers had pleased the imperialist power to such an extent that a parliamentary committee found no agreement in writing from the President House, Foreign Office and defence ministry when they searched for it regarding handing over of the Shamsi air base to Americans after Sept 11, 2001 attacks. The base was used for drone attacks, he added.

He said the US wanted to make India the regional policeman because it considered India as its strategic partner. However, such American design was not acceptable to Pakistan, he added.

The PPP leader said the mindset of the Indian establishment was more rigid and narrower than its counterpart here, as it had sabotaged every good offer from Pakistan.

He referred to the recent inauguration of work on the Kartarpur corridor by Pakistan, but lamented that the Indian external affairs minister had refused to attend the ceremony.

He criticised the US for putting Pakistan on the blacklist of religious freedom violators.

He also asked the government to inform the people about whatever deals it had made with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates during Prime Minister Imran Khan’s recent visits in which the army chief also accompanied him.

Pakistani students in Turkey

Prof Zeliha Kocak Tufan, a member of the Turkish Council of Higher Education, spoke on the issues relating to higher education.

She said 1,822 students from Pakistan studied in Ankara and Istanbul.

She added that her country eagerly wanted greater cooperation with Pakistan in the field of education.

Author Muhammad Ibrahim Joyo’s life was discussed and students presented the poetry of Mowlana Jalaluddin Rumi and Allama Iqbal.

Published in Dawn, December 15th, 2018