Foreign Secretary briefs Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on Pakistan India relations

Lahore : The Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs was briefed by the Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Pakistan India relations in current situations, latest Indian aggression along Line of Control (LoC) and postponement of Islamabad SAARC Summit, during the meeting held today in the Parliament House Islamabad under the Chairmanship of Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari, MNA.

After the recitation of the holy Quran, the Chairman welcomed the Committee Members particularly Dr. Nafisa Shah who replaced Dr. Fehmida Mirza and was attending the Committee meeting for the first time. Later, the Chairman also read out the agenda and then deferred the agenda item No.I (The Ratification of International Treaties Bill, 2013) in the next Committee meeting as the mover Dr. Shireen Mehrunnisa Mazari, MNA was not present. He further apprised the Committee about the prevailing ground situation regarding the Kashmir dispute and asked the Foreign Secretary to give a comprehensive account of latest official version of the Foreign Office’s on remaining agenda.

The Foreign Secretary informed the Committee in detail about the atrocities committed by the Indian Armed Forces from the last three months in the Indian Occupied Kashmir and actions taken by the Government of Pakistan so far including the speech of the Prime Minister of Pakistan to United Nations General Assembly, progress on the initiative of the PM regarding sending of Special Envoys to different countries, decision of the last Cabinet meeting on Kashmir, unanimous resolution issued by heads of the Parliamentary Leaders in the Prime Minister Secretariat last week and deliberation of the Joint sitting of the Parliament. While replying a question regarding postponement of SAARC summit in Islamabad he assured that such move by India is not tantamount to Pakistan regional and global isolation.

The Members raised a number of questions and also shared their experiences during their visit abroad and meetings with different parliamentarians, important government functionaries, think tanks and Pakistani Kashmiri Diaspora.

The Chairman also highlighted his visit to Geneva and concrete initiatives taken by the United Nations Human Rights Commission while issuing a statement regarding sending of fact finding mission to the both sides of the Line of Control by the High Commissioner of Human Rights Commission which is considered an excellent achievement on diplomatic front for Pakistan.

Further, the Chairman also reminded the Committee about the recommendations made by this Committee on Pakistan-India relations a few months back which was also sent to Ministry of Foreign Affairs for implementation. But the Chairman regretted that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has not taken it seriously otherwise we can avoid some of the issues being confronted by the country right now. He also said that the Committee will again recommend some suggestion like water diplomacy as well as a need to conduct as study/assessment to manage damage control strategy  in case India revoke unilaterally Indus river water treaty.

The Members who attended the meeting are: Mr. Muhammad Asim Nazir, Sahibzada Muhammad Nazeer Sultan, Mr. Muhammad Khan Daha, Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar, Rana Muhammad Afzal Khan, Dr. Nafisa Shah and Senior Officer of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also attended the meeting.