ISLAMABAD: The Pakis­tan Tehreek-i-Insaf has continued with its criticism of the federal government for joining 34-nation Saudi Arabia-led military coalition to fight against terrorism in the region.

PTI spokesperson Naeemul Haq said in a statement on Tuesday that the decision showed the level of confusion of the present government in running foreign policy of the country.

In the recently concluded session of the National Assembly, PTI lawmakers Dr Shireen Mazari and Shafqat Mehmood had repeatedly sought response of the government over the announcement of coalition by Saudis, but to no avail. Last Tuesday, Saudi Arabia broke the news of the coalition which it said had been formed to fight the militant Islamic State group with Pakistan as one its members.

Also read: Pakistan to question exclusion of Islamic countries from anti-terror alliance

Referring to the policy statement on the matter made by adviser on foreign affairs Sartaj Aziz on the floor of the Senate on Monday, the PTI information secretary said, “The decision to join the coalition has surprised everybody in the country.”

He asked: how come the government could take such an important decision in this manner. “This makes abundantly clear that the PML-N government is managing foreign affairs of the country in a complete state of confusion.”

According to Mr Haq, by joining the coalition it seemed the government had yet again ignored serious repercussions the country would face by participating in the ongoing fighting in the Middle East.

Reiterating his party’s stance, which most of other opposition parties share, he said the country shouldn’t militarily get involved in the region.

The decision warranted approval from parliament, he added. “The government should have taken parliament into confidence before declaring its participation in the coalition.”

He added that in the past the country suffered irreparable damage when governments ignored parliament in making strategic decisions of such nature, “and we just cannot afford repeat of any such event”.

Since last week’s announce­ment by the Saudis about the 34-nation coalition, the federal government at best had sounded confused. On Mon­day, Sartaj Aziz in the Senate said that it was a broad coalition to fight against rising extremism in the region “not a formal military alliance as some have perceived.”

Published in Dawn, December 23rd, 2015