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| India-Pakistan |
| Shift in Syria policy denied; opposition unconvinced |
| 2014-02-27 |
| [DAWN] The government vehemently denied in the National Assembly on Tuesday making a policy shift over the Syrian crisis from neutrality to a pro-rebel tilt, but could hardly convince its opponents, who piled more blame on it for following what they saw as a dubious foreign policy. Sartaj Aziz, the prime minister's adviser on national security and foreign affairs, read out a prepared statement to reject what he called a "totally baseless and misleading" impression given in the house on Monday by some opposition politicians, some of whom saw signs of a policy about-turn after a visit to Pakistain last week by Soddy Arabia ...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual hajj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. When the oil runs out the rest of the world is going to kick sand in the Soddy national face... n Crown Prince Salman bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud. The opposition charges were based on the wording of a joint Pakistain-Saudi declaration calling for the "formation of a transitional governing body" with full executive powers as part of a solution to the bloody Syrian civil war and foreign media reports that Saudi Arabia was talking to Pakistain to provide anti-aircraft and anti-tank rockets to the rebels. Mr Aziz said the call for a "transitional governing body", which the opposition saw as a demand for regime change, was in line with Pakistain's "declared position" and what was prescribed by the "international community" at the so-called "Geneva-I" conference of June 2012 involving a UN mediator, five permanent members of the Security Council and the Arab League ...an organization of Arabic-speaking states with 22 member countries and four observers. The League tries to achieve Arab consensus on issues, which usually leaves them doing nothing but a bit of grimacing and mustache cursing... . He also insisted that Pakistain was not going to supply arms for use in the Syrian conflict, though in some off-the-cuff remarks later, he said "no weapons are going at the official level", and then added: "There is neither any change in foreign policy nor any weapons are being supplied." But Naveed Qamar of the PPP said the adviser's statement had only confirmed opposition fears, and asked when Pakistain earlier said there should be regime change in Syria. Shireen Mazari of the Pakistain Tehrik-e-Insaf ...a political party in Pakistan. PTI was founded by former Pakistani cricket captain and philanthropist Imran Khan. The party's slogan is Justice, Humanity and Self Esteem, each of which is open to widely divergent interpretations.... said Pakistain had "moved away from our position of neutrality", while Awami Mohammedan League leader Sheikh Rashid Ahmed claimed that "recruitment of private forces has already begun here" for being sent to Syria. Another PPP member, Nafisa Shah, taking part in a discussion on foreign policy on a motion tabled by a party colleague on the present session's first private members' day, wondered why Syria was mentioned in the joint Pakistain-Saudi declaration if the crown prince's visit was bilateral. The discussion was also used by opposition members to criticise the government's foreign policy, with Ms Shah calling it "confused" and "shrouded in mystery", while PTI's Shafqat Mahmood complained that it lacked clarity |
| Posted by:Fred |