Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani has summoned both, Defence Minister Khwaja Asif and Advisor to Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, to Senate, on Wednesday, to address the apprehensions of senators about the 41-nation military alliance under the aegis of Saudi Arabia, led by erstwhile General of Pakistan Army Raheel Sharif.
Rabbani questioned that whether it was possible for the government to share information with the legislators regarding the Saudi Arabia led military alliance. A visibly irate Raza Rabbani during the session here on Tuesday criticised the government because it was not willing to even furnish a reply to queries about the Islamic Military Alliance. Chairman Raza Rabbani also pointed out that ministry of foreign affairs and ministry of defence were busy hoodwinking the parliamentarians. “When we ask from the ministry of defence, they deflect the questions by saying that the concerned ministry for this matter is the ministry of foreign affairs,” he said.
Senator Farhatullah Babar of Pakistan People’s Party while speaking on the Senate floor, remarked that despite many attempts to receive answers from the government about the 41-nation military alliance, it has not provided satisfactory answers. “The government said that the military alliance would not be used to target any sovereign, independent country and would only fight against terrorist organisations like Al-Qaida and Islamic State,” Farhatullah Ullah Babar said, stressing that government is shirking from replying to queries of legislators.
Babar also reminded the senators that they also heard that the 41-nation military alliance would also assist member states to come to the rescue against rebel forces that pose threats to the territorial integrity of any member country. “What is the present status of the alliance; we don’t know. It is about time that legislators provide the parliament with some answers,” he said.
Chairman senate has also issued notices to the defence secretary and foreign secretary to ensure their ministers’ attendance.