Members of Senate's Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs during its meeting, which held here with Senator Haji Mohammad Adeel in the chair, grilled Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials on the alleged policy shift in the backdrop of high profile visits by Saudi Crown Price and the King of Bahrain.
They also protested over the absence of Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz and Foreign Secretary Aizaz Ahmad Chaudhry prior to taking up the agenda item pertaining to the visit of King of Bahrain Shaikh Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa to the country.
Two high officials of the Foreign Office - Naela Chohan, Additional Foreign Secretary (Middle East & Africa), Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Tasnim Aslam, Spokesperson, Additional Secretary (UN & EC) - opted to remain silent when committee member Senator Farhatullah Babar expressed concerns over media reports that Pakistan is sending arms and manpower through unofficial channels to Syria.
"Though I don't expect the Foreign Office officials to respond but they should convey our apprehensions to the political leadership regarding the impression that Pakistan is using unofficial channels to send arms and manpower to Syrian rebels," he said while referring to media reports.
He stated that the visit of the King of Bahrain to Joint Services Headquarters (JSHQ) in Rawalpindi further strengthen this apprehension. Referring to Sartaj Aziz policy statement on Syria in National Assembly on February 25, 2014, Babar said that the Adviser while winding up the debate stated: "Pakistan will not officially supply arms to the Syrian rebels." "When you are specifically stating that you are not sending the arms to Syrian rebels officially, then what is your policy on the unofficial channels," he posed a question
He was of the opinion that the Parliament should ensure the security establishment does not participate officially or unofficially in the civil war being fought in Syria, which would have serious repercussions for Pakistan as well. The Foreign Office officials, however, did not respond to the question about "un-official channels". However, Naela Chohan, Additional Foreign Secretary (Middle East & Africa) admitted that currently 10,000 Pakistanis were serving in Bahrain defence services.
About the visit of the King of Bahrain to JSHQ, she said that there was nothing secret about the visit, as the King is also holding the portfolio of his country's defence minister and he was accompanied by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to the JSHQ. "The visit was not meant for anything but due to the fact that we've 10,000 Pakistanis in their defence forces," she added. Commenting on the issue, chairman of the committee Haji Adeel stated that they were not only serving in the defence force of Bahrain but also enjoying their nationality.
Another member Mushahid Hussain Syed, questioning the purpose of the two back to back visits by Saudi Crown Prince and King of Bahrain, pointed out that the first visit resulted in Pakistan's border tension with Iran and the second trip was followed by intensified "war of words" again between Pakistan and Iran.
"On one hand, you are getting closer [to Saudi Arabia] while on the other you're souring your relationship [with Iran]", he said, adding for the first time Iran approached United Nations to lodge a complaint against Pakistan on the matter of kidnapped Iranian border security guards. He was of the opinion that Pakistan cannot afford to take side of any country in the proxy war being fought in Syria and Bahrain. "I fear Pakistan could be the next battlefield if we did not handle the situation very carefully," he warned, adding that even many GCC [Gulf Co-operation Council] countries including Oman and Kuwait did not side with Saudi Arabia as far as the Kingdom's diplomatic tension with Qatar is concerned.
Senator Tahir Hussain Mashhadi, while taking part in the discussion, stated that it was now an open secret that they were not only sending retired army personnel to Bahrain but also moving Taliban to Syria. However, Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam, responding to the concerns of the members, stated that Pakistan is neither sending arms nor manpower to Syria. On arms sale, she said that Pakistan gets certificate from the buying country that its arms are not used by any third country or party.
At a point, she disagreed with Mushahid Hussain Syed that Iran has lodged a complaint with the UN against Pakistan on the matter of kidnapped Iranian border security guards as well as Iranian Interior Minister's threatening statement to send his country's troops to recover the missing guards.
"Please don't mislead the committee ...these are all facts... let's not deceive ourselves with diplomatic niceties. Facts are facts. There are problems with our relations with Iran. They are accusing us of several kinds of things and I think we should try our best to defuse tension and state the facts as they are," Mushahid maintained, adding that Iran had also summoned our ambassador.
However, the spokesperson continued, saying that Iran has neither lodged a complaint with the UN against Pakistan nor Pakistan ambassador was summoned. She said that Pakistan's ambassador was only invited to discuss the matter of kidnapped guards. On kidnapped guards, she said that initially Iran had requested Pakistan and Afghanistan for help to recover the guards that have gone missing from inside the Iranian border. She said that one of the kidnapped guards has been killed and Pakistan has requested more information from Iranian side, which is yet to be shared.
As far as the tension is concerned, she said, Pakistan has good relations with Iran and we hope that this relationship will further strengthen when Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visits Iran, the dates for the visit is being worked out. The committee chairman also pointed out that the statement of the Iranian Interior Minster was quite provoking, which reflects the fact that they are unhappy with our increasing ties with Saudi Arabia.
Earlier, the committee members also expressed apprehensions over the secrecy surrounding the $1.5 billion gifted by Saudi Arabia. However, Senator Raja Zafar-ul-Haq stated that Saudi Arabia actually did not want to be named and there was no other reason. He also pointed out that when Pakistan tested its nuclear bombs in 1998, Saudi Arabia provided assistance to Pakistan and at that point too the kingdom had requested not to be named.
Earlier, Secretary Defence Lieutenant General Asif Yaseen Malik (Retd) told the panel that the recent visit of CIA chief to Pakistan was a confidential visit in which focused on exchange of intelligence on hardcore intelligence related issues. He said that the trip was part of the regular visits that took place to improve the relationship. "Neither we are privy to the discussions that took place [between the two intelligence chiefs] nor it should be made public," he said in a brief statement to the committee.