- Pressed by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, other leaders, PPP changes its stance over sending Pakistani troops to Yemen
- Party presses govt for sharing details of interactions with Saudi authorities, taking leaders into confidence
The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) on Wednesday agreed in principle to overturn its previous policy of supporting Pakistan’s military assistance to Saudi Arabia-led alliance against Yemen, with PPP’s Central Executive Committee (CEC) deciding to press the government for sharing more details on its dialogue with Saudi Arabian authorities.
Only two weeks ago, PPP Co-Chairman Asif Ali Zardari had urged the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government to fully back the Saudi Arabia-led coalition to move against “the rebellion by non-state actors” in Yemen.
Zardari had also convened a hurriedly called All Parties Conference (APC) to galvanise political support for Saudi Arabia. However, it could not yield the desired results as PPP’s coalition parties, JamiatUlema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), Awami National Pary (ANP) and others, advised Zardrai not to support any invasion into Yemen.
“The actual revolt came from within PPP as senior party leaders, led by Senator Aitzaz Ahsan, had advised the PPP chief not to support pounding Yemen which would be in violation of international laws. Moreover, Ahsan also asked the PPP chief to support Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)’s stance against sending troops to Yemen, which is also considered a popular stance,” a PPP source told Pakistan Today.
The PPP leader said that Senator Ahsan soon got support from the party leaders and had detailed discussions with the party co-chairman, who later convened an emergency party meeting to review his policy.
Finally, the CEC meeting approved a policy to oppose the government’s intentions of sending troops to Saudi Arabia-led alliance to conduct Operation Decisive Storm inside Yemen.
PPP Information Secretary Qamar Zaman Kaira confirmed to Pakistan Today that the party’s top decision-making body had decided to ask the PML-N government to share all the details of the talks held with the Saudi authorities with the Parliament and political leadership.
“Since the matter is of very sensitive nature, the Parliament should be taken into confidence. Moreover, if the government is reluctant in sharing the details with public, an in-camera briefing could be conducted for top political leadership. We not only want to know the details of the interactions between the two states, we also want to know the views of the Establishment over the subject matter,” he said.
Kaira added that the situation demanded of the political leadership to take decisions by adopting a holistic approach.
“We think that being a nuclear state and a leading Muslim country, Pakistan should have taken a lead in efforts to resolve the Yemen crisis through diplomatic norms. However, it seems that the government has been left behind by Turkish leadership as President Erdogan is more active and has adopted a more prudent approach,” he added.
Asked why the PPP had changed its policy and if Senator Ahsan had opposed the party leadership’s decision over military aid to Saudi Arabia, Kaira said that PPP was a democratic political party and there were many “shades and colours” within the party.
“PPP is a democratic and vibrant party. Our leaders have vibrant views and they freely express those within the party meetings. The party holds brainstorming sessions over issues and sometimes decisions are changed in line of the majority’s view,” he added.
Kaira said that PPP would not only take lead in persuading the PML-N government in launching efforts to solve the Yemen crisis through diplomatic norms, it would send its delegations to the friendly countries in a bid to help resolve the Yemen crisis through peaceful means.
He said his party wanted the government to come to the expectations of the people of Pakistan, which was not the case and the government was confused and looked as if it had lost the narrative over Yemen issue. He said the PPP would provide guidelines and leadership to the country over national issues when and if needed.