Rid foreign policy of GHQ: Opp

As the National Assembly rejected all cut motions submitted by the opposition on Monday and approved demands of grants of around Rs 17 billion for the ministries of Foreign Affairs, Information and Broadcasting and Petroleum, the opposition asked the government to formulate a foreign policy independent of the GHQ’s influence and ensure transparency in the use of covert funds of the Ministry of Information.
In contrast to the budget debate of a few days ago, only a few opposition members took part in the business, clearly reflecting the lack of interest of the opposition in the crucial budget session.
As many as 15 demands for grants were approved by the House and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs was allowed four demands for grants amounting to over Rs 12.04 billion, six demands for grants were approved of Rs 4.25 billion for the Ministry of Information, while Rs 703,177,000 were approved against four demands for grants by the Ministry of Petroleum. On the other hand, the opposition had presented around 37 cut motions against these allocations, which were rejected by the treasury through a majority vote.
Earlier, the Foreign Ministry came under harsh criticism as the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz legislators urged the government to go for a foreign policy review, particularly a review of the terms of engagements with the US vis-à-vis the war against terrorism, in the light of recommendations of unanimously adopted resolution of parliament. The opposition severely criticised the foreign policy as a continuation of Musharraf’s policy and asked the government to strengthen its relations with China, Russia and the Middle East.
The PML-N legislators urged career diplomats to register marked improvement in their performance and lure foreign investment to the country. Besides, they said the country also looked to the officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to play a role in spheres such as improving the country’s
image abroad and safeguarding its water interests, so as to justify the allocation of Rs 12.04 billion in the budget 2011-12. Ahsan Iqbal said parliament being the supreme body had no say in the foreign policy formulation at all and all decisions had been taken by the troika consisting of the president, prime minister and chief of army staff.
“The foreign policy should revolve around economic objectives while our economic policy is almost static. We have failed to revive the economy while India and China have seen major economic growth. In my view, there should be annual audit of all our embassies,” he noted. He came hard on ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan, chairman of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, saying the ANP chief had done nothing other than seeking perks and privileges in the past three years.
This infuriated the ANP legislators and Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour reminded him that it was against parliamentary norms to speak against any fellow parliamentarian who he was not present in the House.
Sardar Mehtab Abbasi said the Foreign Office had been unable to counter the lobbying of India to get a permanent place in the UN Security Council, which if granted, would totally destabilise the balance of power in the region.
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar rejected the accusations against the government’s foreign policy, saying it was always conducted in accordance with the wishes of the people and protected Pakistan’s interests.
She said the government was cognisant of the fact that there must be economic returns of the foreign policy, adding that efforts were afoot on those lines. Minister for Information Firdous Ashiq Awan responding to the views of the movers of cut motions said secret funds were used for the welfare and rehabilitation of the media, not for personnel projection.