US, Israel, India collusion in making: Rabbani

ISLAMABAD: Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani on Sunday said Pakistan was a sovereign country and it was not in the habit of "taking notices" from anyone.

"Trump in his recently announced South Asia policy, had blamed Pakistan for the US failures in Afghanistan. The US is trying to shift the blame for its defeat in Afghanistan to Pakistan, and it consistently refuses to recognize the sacrifices of the people of Pakistan in the war on terror,” he said while addressing the six-nation first Speakers Conference that got under way here under the theme of ‘Challenges of terrorism and inter-regional connectivity’.

Representatives from Russia, China, Iran, Afghanistan and Turkey are in attendance. The conference was also addressed by Speaker National Assembly Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, Speaker of Wolesi Jirga of Afghanistan Abdul Rauf Ibraheemi, Speaker of the Shoora-e-Islami of Iran Dr Ali Larejani, Chairman of the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of Russia Volodin Vyacheslav Viktorovich, Speaker of Grand Turkish Assembly Ismail Kehrman and Vice Chairman of the National People’s Congress of China Zhang Ping.

Referring to the recent remarks about Pakistan by US Vice President Mike Pence, Rabbani said, “Pakistan does not need to heed any ‘notice’ from a foreign nation. We will never sacrifice on our basic rights as a sovereign country.” Rabbani said the US had pursued a policy of "regime change and bringing about instability in Muslim countries," particularly in the Middle East.

Describing Trump's decision to shift the US embassy in Tel Aviv to Jerusalem the "blunder of all blunders", the chairman said Washington had failed to understand that it was neither supported practically, nor by history in their decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital.

He said the United Nations General Assembly had given a befitting reply to Washington when 128 countries rejected the US move. "What they [US] fail to recognise is that the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital will give rise to a new intifada, as the people of Palestine move to achieve their historic rights,” he added.

He said a new coalition of the US, Israel and India was in the making, adding, "We find the US is trying to use or build up India as a policeman of the region." He said though Pakistan believed in dialogue and friendly relations with its neighbours, unless India was willing to speak on equal terms, ‘we will perhaps just be looking at the mirage of peace in the region.’

He said it was unfortunate that the United Nations had failed to implement its resolutions on Kashmir. “Time has come for Asia to make its own decisions, or else the history will never forgive us,” he added.

Talking about the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said it had the potential to transform the economic fortunes of the region, ushering in a new era of prosperity. He said the One Belt One Road (OBOR) project will not only benefit the Pakistan, but also the whole region.

 Addressing the conference, President Mamnoon Hussain said terrorism was not a local phenomenon rather it was caused by interference of foreign powers. “Pakistan had been dragged into the war-quagmire after the tragic 9/11 incident,” he said, adding that law and order in Pakistan was adversely affected following the 9/11.

Mamnoon said terrorism had created immense problems in several countries of the region, with Pakistan being the most affected. He said during the last few years, Pakistan had lost more than 70,000 precious lives to terrorism besides suffering more than $120 billion financial losses.

He said owing to comprehensive steps to cope with the situation, terrorists had received a deadly blow. “We have taken comprehensive steps under the National Action Plan (NAP) in different parts of the country, while an effective action has been taken in tribal areas under operation Zarb-e-Azb,” he said.

Talking about the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said as a result of untiring efforts by the two countries, the economic corridor was about to start functioning and would enable western China, particularly the Central Asian countries, to access other parts of Asia and larger markets of Africa and European countries through the Arabian Sea.

“Pakistan is engaged in best efforts to materialise this great dream because we think the future of these regions lies hidden in active links, mutual trade and cooperation into which CPEC will infuse new spirit. Under this spirit, we sincerely invite all countries of the region to join the economic corridor,” the president said. However, he said economic stability and prosperity of the region was linked with regional peace and stability, peaceful co-existence and mutual respect.

He said under this spirit, Pakistan had extended sincere and unconditional cooperation for peace and stability in Afghanistan, believing that stability in the region was linked with the stability in Afghanistan.

“To achieve this common aspiration, we will cooperate in every serious effort,” he said. Similarly, he said Pakistan had extended full cooperation to neighbouring countries to improve and make the border security effective to control extremism.

He said in order to combat terrorism, Pakistan’s armed forces had special experience and specialty from which its neighbour countries could benefit. Talking about the bone of contention between Pakistan and India, President Mamnoon said breach of people’s right to self-determination and fundamental rights created a number of problems and the Kashmir dispute was a glaring example.

He said Pakistan was of the opinion that this issue had endangered peace in the Sub-continent. Welcoming guests to the federal capital, the president hoped that the conference would prove extremely beneficial in combating the challenges facing the region as well as utilizing the opportunities for regional development and prosperity.

Mamnoon said geography, common values of opinions and similar conditions provide Pakistan, Iran, China, Turkey, Russia and Afghanistan wider opportunities to work in unison for the development and prosperity of their people.

APP adds: Sardar Ayaz Sadiq said the Pakistani economy had suffered a loss of over $119 billion since 9/11 due to terrorism. He said the problem had been aggravated by the corresponding rise in illicit drug trade, which had largely remained unchecked and throbbed as the major source of terror financing.

“Why has the global coalition against terrorism consistently failed to control and destroy the booming poppy cultivation? Increased production facilities and the expanding drug trade is a question that many fail to answer,” he said.

Ayaz Sadiq termed the gathering of six countries speakers in Islamabad a historic occasion and noted that the parliamentary heads of these nations had arrived here for the first time to reaffirm their commitment to shared peace and prosperity and forge new grounds of mutual cooperation.

The speaker said China and Pakistan alone provided half of the world’s cotton adding, “The untapped resources of Afghanistan could make it the richest mining region on earth while its mastery in infrastructural construction industry has brought Turkey to the top rankings in the world.”

Ayaz Sadiq said the post-cold-war world had proved to be more dangerous and insecure than the bipolar era. “On the one side, the rise of unipolarism has given way to unilateralism and global hegemony, on the other, the ideals of respect for international borders and nations’ sovereignty are in danger with the introduction of the phenomenon of non-state actors,” he added. He said the seemingly unending spate of terrorist attacks during the last 10 years had rocked every corner of the world, claiming over two hundred thousand lives. “Almost half of these unfortunate victims were from our region,” he added.

Ayaz said, “Most of our respective countries have faced the maximum brunt either through the al-Qaeda, the Taliban, the East Turkistan Islamic Movement and now the eminent threat of the Daesh.”

He said innocent men, women and children across continents had been displaced and forced to leave their lands. “Of the five top countries in the world, hosting largest number of refugees, three are represented here; namely Turkey, Pakistan and Iran,” he said.

Although, he said, religious fanaticism has been often cited as the main cause of global terrorism, let us not forget that that rise of populist right and the sanctioning of oppression have also added fuel to the mayhem. He said the recent controversy created around the status of the Holy city of Jerusalem was not only a move to violate the international law and the related UN resolutions, but also a deliberate attempt to undermine peace efforts. “It is a move to divide the people of the world further and fan religious animosity,” he said. He said the overall mutual trade volume of six countries gathered here was just 366 billion dollars for the year 2016, which was merely 2 percent of the entire global trade volume.