Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz on Thursday said the dialogue process with the banned Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) so far did not yield any positive results, and defended the surgical air strikes against the militants terming them successful.
Talking to media persons after the inaugural session of a two-day international conference on History of Non-violent Movements in Pakistan, the adviser said the government opted to hold dialogue but the offer did not get positive response from the Taliban side.
About the future course of action, he said Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was making consultation with other political parties about the future strategy in case the dialogue process failed. He said so far the terrorists' hideouts had precisely been targeted through air strikes in North Waziristan, which according to him proved successful. The adviser clarified that the policy which was presented before the National Assembly on Wednesday was in fact internal security policy, which was related to country's internal security and the objective of the policy was to establish rule of law.
However, he added, the operational part of policy was of immense importance. He pointed out that the policy had two parts, one deals with the terrorism and the second with other crimes. While a comprehensive National Security Policy based on the country's defence and foreign policy is in the final stages of review and will be presented in coming two weeks.
Aziz further said those criminals and terrorists hiding in the larger cities would have been arrested and prosecuted much earlier if the National Counter-Terrorism Authority (Nacta) was made operational in the earliest. To a question about Bilateral Security Agreement between United States and Afghanistan‚ he said Afghanistan was a sovereign country and it had every right to decide about its future relations with any other country.
However, he said Pakistan desired that the insurgency came to an end and the peace was restored. For the purpose, he said Pakistan was supporting the reconciliation process and it desired it should be an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned process. He said in the informal contacts with the Taliban, Pakistan was persuading them to take part in the reconciliation process.
To another question, the adviser once again clarified that Pakistan was not selling arms to Syrian rebels through Saudi Arabia and also dispelled the impression that Pakistan had changed its principled stance on the issue of Syria. "The report regarding selling arms to Saudi Arabia is absolutely baseless...it's not like there was a proposal from Saudi side and we rejected it rather there was even not any such proposal for discussion," Aziz said while referring to the media reports following the recent visit of Saudi Crown Prince to the country.
He further said Saudi Arabia was purchasing weapons from around the world and he did not believe that Pakistan-made arms were much sophisticated. About the proposal of transition body for the resolution of the Syrian conflict, the adviser said he had already explained it in the National Assembly that it was neither a proposal by the Saudi government nor the government of Pakistan, rather it was taken from the Geneva I, 2012 communiqué.
Earlier, addressing the conference, Aziz pointed out that the violent movements started in the region following the Russian invasion in Afghanistan and those further escalated after the US invasion following 9/11 incident. He said people of Pakistan were peaceful and non-violent history of movements in the country was the true manifestation of that fact. He said Pakistan came into being through a non-violent movement; Muhtarma Fatima Jinnah also ran a non-violent movement against a dictatorial regime in 1960s.
He said people of Pakistan always remained non-violent despite imposition of violence by outside powers. He pointed out that the movement for restoration of judiciary in 2007 and 2009 was an ample example of non-violent attitude of Pakistani people. Despite decades of violence on western border, he said people of Pakistan had always shown resilience and had never opted for violence. He said the incumbent government also believed in non-violence and preferred dialogue to resolve all the issues including that with the Taliban to establish peace in the country.
Terming Durand Line drawn by Subcontinent's British rulers as a mistake, Norwegian Sociologist Professor Dr Johan Galtung said that about 40 million Pakhtuns, the biggest nation of the world, having no state and were divided by the Durand Line. He pointed out that the division of Pakhtun nation through the border line was the bone of contention in the prolonged regional conflict.
In his arguments, Dr Galtung proposed that the UN Security Council should be named as Peace and Security Council, adding the world bodies name depicted the security paranoia of the west. Additional Secretary, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Naela Chohan who chaired the second session titled "Non violence in political struggle: case study of south Asia", stressed the need for highlighting non-violent culture of the region.
Professor Dr Moonis Ahmar of University of Karachi informed the audience about the culture of non-violence in Bangladesh in post 1971 and also highlighted aspects of several non-violent movements in Bangladesh. During the session, Siddiq Mansoor Ansari, chairman of Federation of Afghanistan Civil Societies (FACS), said one could found Afghans as a peaceful nation if approached positively.
The participants were of the view that a unanimous message would emerge from the conference against the violence across the world. The third session, led by Professor Dr Mohammad Nizamuddin, Vice Chancellor, University of Gujrat, came up with a unanimous stance that due to conflict of interest several social organisations working on women rights, empowerment and gender equality failed to fulfil the desired objectives.
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