Parliament slams Pakistan government over troops for Saudi Arabia

Questions over the ‘unilateral decision’ of sending troops to Saudi Arabia in violation of a unanimously adopted parliamentary resolution were raised on Friday in both houses of parliament which sought a policy statement on the issue from the defence minister and admonished the foreign ministry for keeping parliament in the dark on the issue.

The Senate directed the defence minister to appear before the house on Monday, while the National Assembly asked the foreign ministry to provide a detailed reply why Pakistani troops were being deployed in the kingdom and under which bilateral agreement.
Just a day ago the army had announced the decision of sending troops to Saudi Arabia for deployment under a bilateral security pact. The announcement came after Saudi ambassador Commodore Nawaf Saeed Al-Maliki reportedly discussed “regional security situation” with Chief of the Army Staff (COAS) Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa who recently met Crown Prince Salman and military commanders during his three-day visit to the kingdom.
Explanation sought from defence, foreign ministries
Taking up the matter of public importance raised by Senator Farhatullah Babar in the upper house on Friday, Senate Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani asked who took unilateral decisions bypassing parliament and to the detriment of the country.
“Has anyone given a serious thought to its grave consequences?” he asked.
Mr Rabbani said that on the one hand the Yemeni allies of Saudi Arabia were losing the internal political battle because of internal fighting and on the other air campaign and blockade by Saudi Arabia suffered a backlash, adding ‘this provides a disturbing context’.
He said that the deliberately nuanced FO statements recently condemning the Houthi attacks as threat to the kingdom and holy mosques also seemed aimed at justifying sending Pakistani troops to actively engage the Yeminis in the conflict on the side of the Saudis.
While the number of troops being sent had not been announced, the disclosure that it would be less than a division indicated that the contingent could be almost the size of a division, said the Senate chairman. Who was making unilateral decisions bypassing parliament and to the detriment of the country, he asked, recalling parliament’s unanimous resolution seeking strict neutrality.
The defence minister was then asked to appear before the upper house on Monday and gave a policy statement on this issue of public importance.
The announcement related to the deployment of troops also drew the ire of the National Assembly which asked the foreign ministry to explain why Pakistani troops were being sent for deployment in Saudi Arabia and under which bilateral agreement.
“The ministry of foreign affairs should give details about fresh deployment of troops in Saudi Arabia and a letter will also be sent in this regard to the ministry,” said Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq when the houses was discussing the matter.