DM Monitoring
ISLAMABAD: The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit has been bigger challenge than proposed constitutional amends, Muhammad Ali Durrani said on Wednesday.
In an exclusive conversation with media, former federal minister Durrani said that hosting the SCO Summit meeting has been a milestone for Pakistan. “Keep all your contentious affairs including amendments in the constitution on backburner,” Muhammad Ali Durrani advised all political forces. “Any type of tension before the SCO conference will not be in the interest of Pakistan,” he said.
Durrani said that constitutional amendments are a national issue, which needs a long-time and thorough consideration. “Which storm hit us last month, if the amendments were not passed within night,” he questioned.
“The opposition as well as the government must avoid a conflicting step until October 16,” Durrani urged. “Pakistan could avail regional cooperation and economic and political strength with (successfully organizing) the conference,” he added. Pakistan will host the two-day SCO heads of governments meeting this month scheduled to take place on October 15-16.
On the hand, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif during his recent participation at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Astana described the issue of terrorism as a major concern for member states and called for collective efforts to counter the challenges posed by militancy. Sharif’s speech at the SCO summit reflected the urgency with which Pakistan views the threat of terrorism and its desire to see regional countries take a more proactive role in addressing this issue. Pakistan has long been grappling with the problem of terrorism, with militant groups like the TTP carrying out attacks against the country’s security forces.
The premier’s focus on terrorism as a regional problem was motivated by three key factors. Firstly, the SCO summit provides Pakistan with an opportunity to bring its concerns to a forum that includes its neighbors, key allies, and adversaries, such as China, Russia, and India. Sharif used this platform to build a case for Pakistan being under the threat of “state-sponsored terrorism,” indirectly accusing India of supporting and carrying out assassination campaigns in the country.
Secondly, Sharif’s emphasis on the terrorism issue was also driven by Pakistan’s bilateral challenges with the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Islamabad has been struggling to convince the Afghan Taliban to disallow militant groups like the TTP from operating against Pakistan. However, its efforts have been largely unsuccessful, with the two countries’ ties suffering as a result.
The Afghan Taliban have traditionally refused to discuss terrorism with Pakistan at international forums, calling on Islamabad to resolve its issues with the TTP bilaterally. This has frustrated Pakistan as the country has not been able to build regional pressure on the Afghan Taliban to contain TTP. During the SCO summit, the Pakistani premier urged the interim Afghan government to “take concrete and effective measures to prevent the use of Afghan soil for terrorist attacks against other states” in an effort to put pressure on Kabul from a regional perspective and highlight the threat emanating from Afghanistan. Moreover, other leaders who spoke at the SCO forum emphasized the importance of a peaceful Afghanistan for regional stability. A former observer state, Afghanistan, did not attend the meeting.
