ISLAMABAD, Nov 23: Pakistan on Friday denounced as “unreasonable and unjustified” the Commonwealth’s decision to suspend its membership and warned that it would review its association with the 53-nation organisation.
“The Government of Pakistan deeply regrets the decision of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to suspend Pakistan from the Councils of the Commonwealth. The decision does not take into account the objective conditions prevailing in Pakistan,” the Foreign Office spokesperson Mohammad Sadiq said in a stringent statement.
The Commonwealth suspended Pakistan’s membership on Thursday and called for the restoration of “democracy and the rule of law”.
The FO spokesperson said: “The pace of progress towards normalcy will be determined by ground realities and legal requirements in Pakistan rather than unrealistic demands from outside.”He recalled that in order to prevent any precipitate decision by CMAG, both the prime minister and the foreign minister had contacted the leaders of CMAG on telephone and through letters communicating the ground realities in Pakistan and underlining the significant political progress made since the imposition of emergency.
“The CMAG countries were asked to take this progress into account in their deliberations and to postpone any consideration of suspension until a CMAG delegation could visit Pakistan to see for itself the existing circumstances and the steps taken by the government to place Pakistan firmly on the path of democracy,” he noted.
In a hint that Pakistan was considering the option of walking out of the club of former British colonies as it did in 1972, he stated: “Pakistan will review its association and further cooperation with the organisation.”
When asked what in concrete terms would Pakistan lose if suspended from the Commonwealth, he said: “It is very difficult to put a concrete figure what we lose but if you look at the range of cooperation it is basically a diplomatic forum where we are able to interact with other member countries. That is the biggest advantage of the organisation and then there are some scholarships in the educational field.”
The Sri Lankan foreign minister strongly opposed Pakistan’s suspension from the Commonwealth as did his Malaysian counterpart but Malta’s foreign minister, who chairs the Group, pushed hard for it.
Meanwhile, Pakistan has praised the Sri Lankan move to disassociate itself from CMAG’s decision to suspend Pakistan from the Commonwealth.
Sri Lanka took this decision on Friday in a cabinet meeting chaired by its prime minister.
