ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif on Tuesday told lawmakers in Upper House of Parliament that there was no leniency for those who attempt to jeopardize our national stability.
Referring to the death sentence to Indian spy Kulbhushan Jadhav, the minister said due process of law was followed. Refuting Indian claims that the sentence was a ‘premeditated murder’, the minister told Senate that the law of the land was applied and the trial in question went on for three months. He said that the actions of the Indian forces in Occupied Kashmir amounted to ‘premeditated murder’. “It was premeditated murder in Gujarat. It was premeditated murder when Samjhota Express was attacked,” he said, adding that Pakistan has time and again tried to reconcile differences with India but New Delhi has failed to reciprocate.
Kh Asif said Pakistan will not make any concessions for elements working against the security and the stability of the country “whether they’re operating from inside Pakistan or from outside”. “We have done absolutely nothing that can be called against the rules and regulations but there are premeditated murders going on even today in Kashmir,” said the minister.
Indian spy Jadhav was held by law enforcement agencies in a counter-terror operation in Mashakel area of Balochistan on March 3, 2016. A confessional video released by the media cell of Pakistan Army showed the in-service spy confessing association with the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He confessed to being tasked by the Indian intelligence agency to work towards destabilizing Pakistan, sponsoring terrorism, conspire to fail China-Pakistan Economic Corridor.
The defence minister said that the government was in a position to deal with such elements “with an iron fist”. “No other country has been a target of terrorism the way Pakistan is,” Asif said, adding that there were no parallels to the successes Pakistan has made against terrorism. “We will defend our homeland at all costs,” he added.
In another policy statement, the minister said Pakistan would quit the Saudi-led Islamic coalition if it was to be used against any Muslim country including Iran. “Pakistan does not wish to be a part of any sectarian alliance,” Asif told the senators. “Our efforts have been and will be geared towards eradicating militancy,” he added.
Kh Asif said General (r) Raheel Sharif didn’t apply for a no-objection certificate (NOC) from the government prior to accepting the position of chief of 41-nation Islamic military coalition.
Raheel Sharif was selected last year by Riyadh as the commander of the Saudi-led alliance of Muslim-majority countries aimed at countering terrorism. But this prompted concerns among politicians and within the army command that Pakistan was becoming too involved in an organisation that excluded Iran and Iraq, where the government was dominated by Shias. A retired army general claimed that Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif had agreed to Saudi Arabia’s request of appointing former army chief Raheel Sharif as the commander of the Muslim coalition hours before the news was made public.
Kh Asif said that a meeting to discuss the military alliance of Muslim countries and setting the term of references (ToRs) was due in May. Senate Chairman Raza Rabbani asked the minister to get the ToRs approved by parliament first.
The defence minister was responding to a calling attention notice moved by Farhatullah Babar regarding the permission granted by the government to the recently retired army chief to join the Saudi-led multi-nation Islamic military alliance to fight terrorism.
In context of Yemen war, the minister said that Pakistan would not become part of aggression against a Muslim country. He said that reservations of Iran were being reviewed by the government of Pakistan.
