- PTI’s Qureshi thinks Foreign Ministry ‘confuse’ on latest developments
The escalating Middle East diplomatic rift echoed in the National Assembly on Tuesday during a session intended for discussion of the budget, with opposition leaders calling for clarity in Pakistan’s stance regarding the issue.
Leader of Opposition Khursheed Shah feared that if the situation in the Middle East worsened, it would have repercussions for Pakistan. “The Muslim world has been facing unrest. Can’t Pakistan summon an emergency session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC),” he asked.
Founded in 1969, the OIC is an international organisation and is the collective voice of the Muslim nations and works to safeguard and protect the interests of the Muslims in the spirit of promoting international peace and harmony.
Speaking on a point of order, former foreign affairs minister and Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) leader Shah Mahmood Qureshi raised the matter of the Middle Eastern rift, lamenting that the Foreign Ministry appeared confused at a time when severe crisis appeared to be developing in the region.
“We don’t want and cannot afford strained relations with Saudi Arabia and Iran,” he cautioned, sharing that six countries had boycotted Qatar. Touching upon the matter of the Saudi military alliance, of which Pakistan is also a part, he said that initially it was said that the coalition was being made against terrorism but Iran was kept away and now Qatar was set aside on the pretext of supporting terrorists.
The Foreign Office has not cleared its position as yet, he pointed out. In his view, the entire region was moving towards instability, he said. Qureshi also turned his guns towards the ruling party and said that instead of the budget, the entire nation was discussing a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) and how a photo of the prime minister’s son was leaked.
Qureshi asked why a Qatari royal who was linked to the case refused to visit Pakistan while the Sharif family’s case hinged upon his letter. Treasury members interrupted the speech when Qureshi began discussing the Sharif family, but Speaker Ayaz Sadiq intervened and said that any issue could be addressed during the budget session.
