Stress paradigm shift in approach evident for increase in Pak-Afghan Military-to-military relations in New Year
Senate Standing Committee on Defence Chairman and Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed has urged to increase bilateral cooperation among Pakistan and Afghanistan to combat the ‘Terrorism, which he termed as common enemy of both countries.
He stated this while addressing a welcoming luncheon at Parliament House on Monday, hosted in honor of 16-member Afghan Parliamentary delegation, which is currently on visit to Pakistan to participate in the Pak-Afghan Parliamentary Security Dialogue. The two-day dialogue will officially start in Islamabad on Tuesday.
Senator Mushahid Hussain is Co-Chair of the Parliamentary Security Dialogue, which was initiated for the first time between the two parliaments in October 2013, with visit of Senate Defence Committee to Asfghanistan. This is now the reciprocal visit. He said there is a paradigm shift in Pakistan’s approach, bidding goodbye to notions of ‘strategic depth’ as well as drawing distinctions of ‘good/bad terrorists’.
“Pak-Afghan Relations are of paramount importance in the Pakistan Foreign Policy and there is a complete consciousness among all Pakistani political parties for a peaceful Afghanistan.” Senator Mushahid said in his address, adding that in the coming new year more bilateral cooperation regarding security issues and military-to-military relations is expected.
“The national poet of Pakistan, Allama Iqbal, had predicted nearly eighty years ago that the peace, stability and prosperity in Asia would be interlinked with a peaceful and prosperous Afghanistan.” The Senator referred to Allama Iqbal’s poetry, in which he said that stable Afghanistan would lead the whole region to stability while strife in Afghanistan, on the other hand, would affect whole region badly.
Leader of Afghan Parliamentary delegation, Senator Baz Mohammad Zurmati also spoke on the occasion and assured full support of Afghan government to root out terrorism. He, on behalf of Afghanistan, also condemned the tragic incident in Peshawar, saying that the Afghan people were shocked on this brutal act of terrorism.
Leader of the House in Senate Raja Mohammad Zafar-ul-Haq, Senator Farhatullah Babar, Senator Afrasiab Khattak, Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel, Senator Zahid Khan, Senator Abbas Khan Afridi, Senator Dr. Saeeda Iqbal, Senator Nuzhat Sadiq, Senator Surriya Amiruddin, Senator Colonel ® Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, Senator Begum Najma Hameed, Senator Rubina Khalid, Senator Khalida Parveen and others also graced the ceremony.
