Legislation for extension in COAS tenure - SC judgment awaited: Qureshi

MULTAN: Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Saturday that government is awaiting Supreme Court's detailed judgment in the case regarding extension in the tenure of Chief of Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa.

He expressed the hope that the opposition parties would extend helping hand with regard to legislation on extension in the tenure of the army chief. He said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has decided to give another full term of three years to Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government is working on devising the modalities in this regard.

Talking to the media at the Multan international airport on Saturday, he said the Supreme Court gave some suggestions regarding extension to the COAS and the government was considering them. The government could not think of any confrontation with any institution, Qureshi said adding that the government was consulting with the law experts to enact laws about extension in service of the COAS. He said the government was expecting cooperation from the opposition parties over constitutional amendments for appointment and extension in service of the COAS. The government had acted in accordance with the law and Constitution in the matter of Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa and his extension was due in the larger interest of the country. Gen Bajwa had been given extension keeping in view his role in peacekeeping in Afghanistan and dealing with India.

The foreign minister warned that Indian conspiracies could disturb peaceful situation in the country any time. However, he added, Pakistan was watching Indian aggressive attitude with full attention and the armed forces were ready to respond to any misadventure by the enemy forces.

He said the United States (US), European Union (EU) and the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) had endorsed Pakistan’s stance on Kashmir and strongly condemned the Indian aggression in Occupied Jammu and Kashmir and violations of rights.

He said the OIC condemnation of Indian violations in held Kashmir rejected the wrong impression that the Muslim countries’ representative body was lenient towards India over the held Kashmir issue. The OIC Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC) backed Pak stance on Kashmir as it is and took a clear and bold stand on the held Valley, the minister added. The US Congress held two deliberations specifically on Indian Occupied Kashmir, which is a great success of Pak diplomatic efforts. Qureshi said the Kashmir problem had become a core issue after 50 years in the United Nations Security Council and Pakistan had achieved a lot on diplomatic front, he added.

The foreign minister said the Islamabad sit-in, led by Maulana Fazlur Rehman, damaged the Kashmir cause a lot and diminished debates in the media on the burning issue. He urged the media to focus on the Kashmir cause again and allocate at least 5-6 minutes to the issue in each news bulletin on daily basis. He said Kashmiris were looking towards Pakistani journalists for highlighting their plight on national and international media. He said the Pakistan media should become the voice of Kashmiris.

The foreign minister said that India had imposed curfew in held Kashmir for over 120 days, and it was running its affairs through Public Safety Act and using state force against Kashmiris. He said he was going to Sri Lanka to greet the newly elected leadership and he would highlight the Kashmir dispute during his meetings. Later, he added, he would visit Qatar where he would discuss the Kashmir dispute with the representatives of Islamic countries.

Qureshi said the incumbent government was giving due importance to China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) and considers it game-changer for the region. No propaganda would affect CPEC, which had entered the second phase of economic development, the minister added. He rejected all negative information and propaganda against CPEC projects.

Responding to a query, he said the government was hopeful of getting out of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) grey list in the next meeting, as the country had convinced majority member countries though implementation of the conditions.

About the economic diplomacy, he said Pakistan held a successful conference of African countries’ ambassadors in Islamabad and it was expecting a sizeable increase in its exports to these countries. He said the Islamabad conference decided that another session would be held in Kenyan city Nairobi in January next. Pakistan was overcoming diplomatic flaws and appointing attaches against vacant posts in different countries. The Pakistan foreign ministry was performing like China, India and Turkey foreign ministries.

Shah Mehmood Qureshi expressed his satisfaction that Afghan peace process had resumed after a break.