Senate body asks if Husain Haqqani had anything to do with the deal not going through
Foreign secretary says relations with US have soured after close Sino-Pak relations and CPEC
Defence Secretary Lt General (r) Mohammad Alam Khan Khattak told a joint sitting of the Senate standing committees on Foreign Affairs and Defence that Haqqani Network is the major reason for the US administration to cancel the F-16 delivery to Pakistan.
This prompted Standing Committee on Defence Chairman Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed to ask which Haqqani Network the defence secretary was talking about.
“Do you mean the Husain Haqqani Network or Jalaluddin Haqqani Network,” the senator asked, referring to claims of various government officials that Pakistan’s former ambassador to US Husain Haqqani is actively lobbying in the US Congress against delivery of F-16 fighter jets to Pakistan.
Mushahid said that Pakistan needs to ask the US about its future policy in Afghanistan.
“Does the US want to enter into peace talks with the Taliban or do they want a war with them?” he asked.
General Khattak said that the F-16 deal with the US is over now. “Pakistan will purchase US-made F-16 fighter jets from Jordan and the US government has no reservations over this deal,” the defence secretary added.
Meanwhile, Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz told the meeting that the Sino-Pakistan friendly ties in general and China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) in particular are the reason for the US’ tilt towards India and the recent tiff in US-Pakistan relations.
He said Pakistan will not compromise over its sovereignty, regional stability or its nuclear arsenal.
‘THE STRATEGIC DEPTH THEORY HAS BEEN ABANDONED FOR GOOD’:
When the standing committee chairman asked whether Pakistan had trashed its doctrine of strategic depth in Afghanistan, Sartaj Aziz said that with the launch of the National Action Plan (NAP), Pakistan has discarded its strategic depth doctrine. General Alam Khattak however, claimed that there was no such doctrine written in black and white. “Even if there was such idea, it is not relevant anymore,” he added.
Mushahid Hussain said the nation could never understand the government’s public posturing over potential issues. He said that in the past, the Pakistani governments had been extending tacit approval to drone strikes while publicly opposing them. He said that Pakistan even supported India in the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
HOW MANY MORE MULLAH MANSOURS ARE THERE IN PAKISTAN, FARHAT WANTS TO KNOW:
PPP Senator Farhatullah Babar asked how Mullah Mansour managed to acquire a Pakistani identity card.
“Who gave him the passport and for how much money? We should also be told how many more Mullah Mansours are there in Pakistan,” Babar said.
Sartaj Aziz said that thousands of Afghan migrants had been issued ID cards. “The matter is under investigation and the House will be taken into confidence over it,” he added.
Senator Karim Khwaja said Pakistan’s foreign policy is not being managed by the civilian government.
“We should be informed whether the Foreign Office is independent in formulating our foreign policy, or if it is the security establishment which does it for them. The Iranian president, who came on his first visit to Pakistan, was humiliated with a public tweet,” he said.
Regarding the Afghanistan issue, Foreign Secretary Aizaz Chaudhry said that Pakistan wants peace in Afghanistan. He said that Pakistan doesn’t respond to provocative statements from Afghanistan under a directive from Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
He also clarified why Pakistan had handed over a check post to Afghanistan.
“Pakistan has not handed over the Angoor Adda check post to Afghanistan. It was an old check post which was constructed during the Taliban era when border control was not that stringent. The check post was on the Pakistani soil while the gate was in Afghan territory. The Afghan authorities were protesting for years, so we handed over the gate to them,” he said and added that the initiative had been taken to further strengthen brotherly relations with Afghanistan.
