The
Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Tuesday unanimously passed a resolution rejecting the US statement on CPEC as “unacceptable interference in
Pakistan’s sovereign right to exercise policy choices that best protect and promote its national interests”.
The committee held its meeting under the chairmanship of Se
nator Mushahid Hussain Sayed in parliament house. The Committee received an hour long in-Camera briefing by the Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi regarding the situation inside Indian Occupied
Kashmir, the Kartarpur Corridor,
Pakistan’s role in mediation between Iran and Saudi Arabia, as well as formulation of a comprehensive and long term
Kashmir strategy.
The resolution on CPEC termed the statement of Alice Wells as “uncalled for, unwarranted and unprecedented” and termed the US statement as “promoting fiction and presenting a biased perspective on CPEC”. The Committee strongly urged the government of
Pakistan to make it c
lear in “unequivocal terms that
Pakistan will not tolerate any dictation from any country that seeks to undermine the time-tested
Pakistan-China relations.”
During the briefing, the Foreign Minister made it clear that he would soon convene a meeting of Apex
Kashmir Committee so that a comprehensive and sustainable
Kashmir strategy can be formulated, in consultation with Parliament as well as the opposition.
Se
nator Mushahid Hussain made it clear that on the issue of
Kashmir, the whole nation speaks with one voice and it was at the initiative of the
Senate Foreign Affairs Committee last year that an international
Kashmir conference was convened in the British Parliament in February 2019 where the Foreign Minister as well as the entire parliamentary committee participated and spoke with one voice and on one platform on
Kashmir.
Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that the government is planning to send delegation abroad which will include representatives of the parliamentary opposition and Foreign Office is also planning to hold an international conference on
Kashmir at various locations within
Pakistan and abroad. Both these initiatives were welcomed by the
Senate Foreign Affairs Committee.
In other business, the
Senate Committee also took note on the public petition complaining against
Pakistan’s Consul General, Barcelona, Spain and it took strong exception to the contents and language used by the
Pakistani Consul General based in Barcelona terming it an unacceptable “Character assassination” and language not befitting a diplomat of
Pakistan against fellow
Pakistanis. The Committee ordered an immediate Foreign Office to make inquiry into the matter and asked the Foreign Office to present a compliance report by December 15, 2019.
The Committee also took note of other matters particularly the issues of
Pakistani prisoners in foreign countries and instructed the Foreign Office to provide early redressal to the grievances of these
Pakistani prisoners languishing in jails abroad.
The meeting was held under the Chairmanship of Se
nator Mushahid Hussain Sayed at the Parliament House and attended by
Senators Muhammad Javed Abbasi, Dr. Asif Kirmani, Nuzhat Sadiq, Seemee Ezdi, Atta ur Rehman, Abdul Rehman Malik, Sherry Rehman, Anwaar ul Haq Kakar, Mian Muhammad Atteq Shaikh, Siraj ul Haq, Sitara Ayaz, Dr. Shahzad Waseem, Minister for Foreign Affairs Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Special Secretary Moazam Ali Khan along with senior officers from Foreign Office, Hafeezullah Sheikh, Additional Secretary,
Senate and others.