Six-member delegation to travel to Baku to monitor Azeri presidential elections. PHOTO: FILE
The Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs passed a resolution on Saturday extending its support to Azerbaijan over the issue of Nagorno-Karabakh. The resolution came prior to the departure of a six-member parliamentary delegation for Baku for observing the Azeri presidential elections scheduled for October 9.
Foreign ministry officials gave a detailed briefing to the committee about Azerbaijan’s internal and geo-political situation.
In its resolution, the Senate panel thanked the Azeri government for supporting Pakistan on the decades-old Kashmir dispute. It also condemned the occupation of Nagorno-Karabakh by neighbouring Armenia.
The Pakistani parliamentary delegation will include six MPs from six political parties. They are ANP’s Senator Haji Adeel, PML-Q’s Senator Mushahid Hussain, PPP’s Senator Jahangir Badar, MNA Tahira Aurangzeb and Senators Sughra Imam, Sabir Baloch and Tahir Mashadi.
The Senate panel’s chairman, Senator Haji Adeel, said Azerbaijan was one of Pakistan’s closest friends. “The Pakistani mission will play an important role in observing the election – a move aimed at contributing its input to strengthen democracy in the friendly country,” he added.
Senator Mushahid Hussain said the Pakistani mission was one of the largest missions among international election observers.
The Nagorno-Karabakh conflict started in 1988 when Armenia made territorial claims against Azerbaijan. Since a lengthy war in the early 1990s, Armenian armed forces have occupied over 20% of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognised territory, including Nagorno-Karabakh.
Published in The Express Tribune, October 6th, 2013.
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