Haniyeh's assassination stokes tensions

Foreign Secretary Cyrus Sajjad Qazi told the National Assembly Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs on Wednesday that the assassination of Hamas chief Ismail Hanyeh in Iran would stoke anger in the region and the situation might get worse and even impact the global oil prices.

Secretary Qazi gave a detailed briefing to the committee, which met here with its chairperson Hina Rabbani Khar in the chair, on various issues of the foreign ministry. He also responded to various questions raised by the committee members during the meeting.

"This incident will stoke tensions, and things will get worse. Progress was expected on the Gaza issue, while contact between the United States and Iran was also expected but now all that has come to a standstill," Qazi said. "As a result of rising tensions, petroleum prices are expected to rise," he warned.

Qaiz told the lawmakers that Pakistan's relations with the United States are strong and President Joe Biden administration had pledged full cooperation. He said that 33 projects of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) had been completed while 22 were under way.

During his meeting, the foreign secretary also briefed lawmakers about the free trade agreement with Iran and trade relations with Afghanistan. He said that the Kashmir issue had been kept alive and a detailed briefing would be given on this issue in an in-camera session.

Various questions were raised in the meeting, regarding performance of Pakistan's trade missions abroad; training of foreign diplomats at the Foreign Service Academy, and the country's foreign policy. Committee memebers Shaista Pervez Malik and Ejazul Haq expressed their concerns on these issues.

Qazi said that the foreign ministry had five camp offices where services were provided to about 8,000 citizens on a daily basis. He added that the ministry's budget was of Rs49 billion, out of which 48% was reserved for the headquarters and 49% for foreign missions.

Giving a comparison, the foreign secretary said that ministry's budget was 14 times less than that of India or equal to the budget of Bangladesh. However, he added that Pakistan had 120 foreign missions compared with 80 of Bangladesh.

The chair also raised the issues related to the services as per the Apostille Convention, about simplifying the verification of documents.