Parliament’s role in foreign policy stressed

ISLAMABAD:

Speakers at a seminar on Tuesday called for a continued, constructive engagement of parliament in foreign affairs and enhanced collaboration between legislature and the Foreign Office.

They were speaking at a seminar on “Pakistan’s Foreign Policy: Role of the Parliament” at the Institute of Strategic Studies Islamabad (ISSI).

National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Chairperson Sardar Awais Ahmed Khan Leghari said the committee was trying to improve its working but was faced with resource and academic constraints.

Leghari said sensitive issues were being discussed in the parliament for the first time.

Other members of the committee and analysts said that in contemporary times foreign policy had become complex and multi-layered and was moving away from security-oriented approaches to economic diplomacy and green environment.

“As foreign policy is a national policy which continues despite change of governments, it needs to be owned and supported by majority of the parliament,” they said. ISSI Director General Ambassador Masood Khan said Pakistan needed the guidance of parliament, which had its ears to the ground and its finger on the pulse of the people of Pakistan.

ISSI Board of Governors Chairperson Ambassador Khalid Mahmood said standing committees should be representative of all parties and have a guiding and supporting role. He said parliament was the only institution where all issues should be discussed and a national consensus be formed.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 3^rd, 2016.