ISLAMABAD: Ahead of the formal launch of the Saudi-led ‘pan-Islamic’ coalition, Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) lawmaker Farhatullah Babar on Friday asked Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir not to make any commitments with Saudi Arabia without any prior notice to Senate.
Babar also said the government must take parliament into confidence over the terms of reference (TORs) of the 41-nation coalition.
A meeting of the defence ministers of the member states of collation will mark the formal launch of the Islamic Military Counter Terrorism Coalition on Sunday.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, a driving force behind the coalition, will inaugurate the meeting that will be held in Riyadh to outline the strategy, governance, activities and future plans of the coalition.
Reiterating parliament’s involvement in the issue, Babar said that the defence minister had assured the house that the terms of reference for participation in the alliance will be placed before the Senate before any decision was taken. “Why shouldn’t the government take the Parliament into confidence before making a commitment to Saudi Arabia?” the senator asked.
Adding more to his reservations, the PPP senator said the parliament had also questioned why the army chief had been sent to Riyadh before the TORs had been finalised.
The coalition’s focusses on four key areas: ideology, communications, counter-terrorism financing and military; out of these four areas, ideology would be a challenge with potential consequences for Pakistan.
Pakistan was part of the initial list of 34 countries that had agreed to become part of the coalition. Former COAS General (r) Raheel Sharif joined the alliance as its top commander in April after the government issued a no-objection certificate.