ISLAMABAD: Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on Friday expressed reservations over US President Trump’s South Asia policy, which they said was one-sided and biased since it was promoting India as an American partner against China. They also expressed their concern over the Indian activities in Afghanistan.
Earlier, Foreign Minister Makhdoom Shah Mahmood Qureshi, along with foreign secretary and the foreign office team, gave a comprehensive briefing to the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee on various issues ranging from Pompeo’s visit, the visit of Iranian foreign minister, FATF, Pakistan’s relations with the Muslim world, CPEC, Afghanistan and India.
At the outset, Senator Mushahid Hussain was joined by his colleagues in the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee to extend heartiest congratulations to the new foreign minister and they extended their full cooperation to him in the performance of his professional functioning.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi said that he had great respect for the parliament and for the Foreign Affairs Committee and he would be looking forward to guidance from the committee in the formulation of foreign policy. He also said that he would take the lead from parliament and the Foreign Affairs Committee would be kept in the loop on foreign policy issues.
During the briefing, the foreign minister underlined that CPEC was a key national project formed with consensus and the government was committed to promoting CPEC to take it forward. He also said that he would be visiting Afghanistan soon and next week, foreign ministers of China and Turkey would be visiting Pakistan.
Senator Mushahid Hussain, at the occasion, announced that a public hearing of the Foreign Affairs Committee would be held on the country’s foreign policy on September 12, where two leading experts on foreign policy, former foreign secretary, Ambassador Jalil Abbas Jillani and Mueed Yousaf from the US Institute of Peace would give presentations.
The meeting was attended by Senators Mohammad Javed Abbasi, Asif Kirmani, Nuzhat Sadiq, Asad Junejo, Rehman Malik, Sherry Rehman, Anwarul Haq Kakar, Sitara Ayaz and Secretary of the Committee Dr Syed Pervaiz Abbas.