What does Sartaj Aziz mean that Pakistan has not yet formally joined the 34-country grand bloc against terrorism?Does he mean that our joining this bloc is on the cards? This is the last thing that Pakistan should do. Only a political naive would believe that this bloc has no political connotation and it isn’t against Tehran. One can change everything but neighbours. Iran is our next door neighbour and hitherto both Islamabad and Tehran have enjoyed excellent relations. A sizable numberof muslims belonging to shia sect live in this country which has a close affinity with Iran. Why on earth should we spoil our relations with Iran and embroil ourselves in the sectarian war between these two muslim countries? If we joined this bloc Iran would definitely construe it as an hostile act on our part against it.
Why is the government shy of telling both Iran and Saudi Arabia not to fight their war of attrition on our soil? Isn’t it a fact that both these countries have been bankrolling the religious seminaries propagating their respective sects in Pakistan since long? Half of the money received by them goes to the private coffers of the owners of these seminaries while the remaining half is spent by them on purchase of weaponry. What precludes it from asking them to stop acting as a sugar daddy to them? Unless this financial assistance is stopped forthwith it would be difficult to contain sectarianism in this country.
One vividly remembers that every ruler of this country worth his salt on coming to power promises with the nation that he would cut down on his foreign visits in order to save the foreign exchange but then he goes on to violate with impunity his promise on this score. It was admitted on the floor of the national assembly the other day by the adviser on foreign affairs to the prime minister, Sartaj Aziz that as many as 65 foreign trips were made by the prime minister between 2013 hitherto on which a whopping sum of over 63 crores was spent.
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