Govt mulls building bunkers along LoC, Qureshi tells Senate

ISLAMABAD: Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said in the Senate Monday that the government was considering building bunkers to protect 1.1 million Kashmiris along the Line of Control from India’s unprovoked firing and shelling.

Making a policy statement in the House while concluding the debate on two motions moved by JI’s Sirajul Haq and Mushtaq Ahmed, the minister said: “We have to be careful and hitting only the military targets, whereas Indian forces resort to aggression devoid of such compassion”.

Mr Qureshi brushed aside the opposition Senators contention that Pakistan was facing isolation owing to the incumbent government’s failed foreign policy and insisted that India was facing isolation and fingers were being raised at it what the RSS government with Hindutva mindset was resorting to in India and Occupied Kashmir. He referred to a wide coverage of the same in the western media, which was unprecedented.

He reiterated that Pakistan had irrefutable evidence of Indian involvement in acts of terrorism in the country and he had raised this matter at bilateral and multi-lateral fora and wrote letters as well, including the one to the UNSC president in addition to taking it up with the UN secretary-general.

The minister defended the PTI-led government’s foreign policy and said once Pakistan was tagged as a part of problem and today it was being acknowledged as a part of the solution in the world. He referred to Pakistan’s key role in the Afghan peace process, which was acknowledged duly by the United States too.

Putting aside the opposition’s criticism of the government’s Kashmir policy, the minister asserted that Kashmir was the cornerstone of Pakistan’s foreign policy and jugular vein. He regretted that the word Kashmir would stuck in the mouth of the past rulers and said it should be seen who had projected the Kashmir problem and pleaded it effectively globally. He agreed with PPP parliamentary leader in the House Sherry Rehman that the foreign policy should be bi-partisan and wished that a party chairman would have not said that Kashmir had been compromised. “We must not give such immature statements, which may spread despondency among Kashmiris,” he noted. The minister emphasized that no government could ever compromise on the Kashmir issue. The minister said that the government wanted normal relations with India and Prime Minister Imran Khan at the very outset said that if India would take one step, he would take two but this positive approached was not reciprocated from the other side. A large section of Indian society, he pointed out, was not satisfied with the crazy government of RSS with Hindutva mindset.

About relations with Saudi Arabia, Mr Qureshi maintained that strategic relations existed with the Kingdom and it understood Pakistan’s importance with regards to Pakistanis’ role in its socio-economic progress. He said that Pakistan had an agreement with Saudi Arabia for a limited period and when Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves improved, it paid them back. The minister continued that on several important issues Saudi Arabia had supported Pakistan and sided with it, including the tabling of resolution in the UN on Islamophodia and the sanctity of the Holy Prophet peace be upon him. “There is nothing to be anxious about in our relations,” he noted.

About relations with the United Arab Emirates, the minister said he had recently a three-hour long meeting with the Emirates foreign minister wherein he had said in categorical terms that their relations with India were not at the cost of Pakistan and they were fully aware of significance and importance of Pakistan.

He contended that on the issue of Palestine, the OIC came into being and today many important countries were reviving relations with Israel and there was a report that the Israeli PM would soon visit the UAE, adding every country had the right to protect its interests and form its foreign policy accordingly.

The minister said that it was rightly said that the foreign policy impacts were long-term and they should be seen had the foreign policy challenges emerged in the last two and a half of years or beyond that. “Today, where we are standing, we are responsible but far more responsible are those, who have been in governments for four terms each and some had represented Kashmir for a long time and headed Kashmir Committee for 12 years ,” he argued.

Mr Qureshi said that foreign policy decisions were not like switching on or off a button, as these were influenced by internal and external changing situation as well.

He said having good relations with neighbours was a part of the foreign policy and referred to Pakistan’s better relations with Afghanistan and Iran. He said relations with China were ever deeper now also with reference to CPEC phase II.

The minister noted that the foreign policy could not be disconnected from the political as well as economic situations, adding certain powers were trying to cause political instability and it was no service to the nation, as it impeded foreign policy objectives.

Owing to economic diplomacy, he pointed out, the 57-country African continent, which was previously not given attention despite having a market of 1.3 billion people, was tapped and a conference was held in Nairobi and in one year, seven per cent growth was achieved in Pakistan’s exports. With same purpose, a European envoys conference will be held this month.

Senator Sherry Rehman came hard on the government foreign policy and lamented that instead of focusing on foreign policy challenges, the government was targeting the opposition and asked what message was being given to the people of Kashmir this way.

She insisted that the government needed to evolve a consensus on foreign policy matters but it was doing the other way round. She pointed out that the Biden opportunity was a new one and Pakistan had time till May to work on that, as the United States was currently looking at Pakistan from the perspective of Afghanistan. “What is the government's plan to take advantage of this opportunity,” Sherry Rehman

“You may take credit for it, but the Kashmir issue was discussed at the UN thrice not because of you but due to Modi’s steps. What you have done, you could not organize a single international conference on Kashmir. While a joint session was also held on our demand. We don't see any government strategy even now: you just turned Kashmir Highway into Srinagar Highway,” Sherry Rehman said, adding that was it.

She called the Afghan peace deal the US exit deal and said Afghanistan was passing through a deep transition while violence and menace of terrorism was rising again in that country. But the government was busy in bashing of the opposition while the economy was sinking and loans had been piled up.

Earlier, Sirajul Haq, Mushtaq Ahmad, Abdul Qayyum, Mir Kabir Shahi, Tahir Bizenjo, Safraz Bugti, Muhammad Ali Saif and Maulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri spoke on the motions. Opposition Senators termed the government foreign policy a complete failure, leading to Pakistan’s isolation in the global arena while traditional friends also turned away. The treasury senators defended the foreign policy.

Later, Sherry Rehman tweeted: “Unfortunately, after saying he will not be divisive today on foreign policy, especially on Kashmir, the FM could not help himself and broke into a personal attack on @BBhuttoZardari for asking about what has been done on Kashmir. Some of us walked out of the Senate on no right of reply.”