A day after asking Foreign Office to expel Swiss ambassador after Swiss authorities paid no heed to protest lodged against a terrorist organisation for displaying anti-Pakistan posters in Geneva, Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani on Thursday suspended Pakistan-Switzerland Friendship Group in protest.
With a view to strengthen inter-parliamentary links and promote parliamentary cooperation, Senate of Pakistan has established 36 Parliamentary Friendship Groups on reciprocal basis that also include one with Switzerland. Citing a UN declaration on the inadmissibility of intervention and interference in the internal affairs of another member state, Rabbani said: "Swiss government is not forthcoming despite protests against anti-Pakistan posters on its soil, so the Senate suspends Pakistan-Switzerland Friendship Group till further orders."
Pakistan-Switzerland Friendship Group of Senate is a 14-member group whose president is chairman Senate himself while Ayesha Raza Farooq of ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) is the convenor. The lawmakers lauded the decision taken by Rabbani by thumping their desks. Senator Mushahid Hussain Syed said the so-called Pakistan-Switzerland Friendship Group should seize to exist, as it is of no use given the present situation when Swiss authorities are not ready to take any action against BLA terrorists.
The activists of terrorist Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA) backed by India, the arch rival of Pakistan, had displayed anti-Pakistan posters in Geneva this year, but the Swiss authorities showed reluctance to take any action against the perpetrators, terming it an issue of freedom of speech.
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