ISLAMABAD: Defence Minister Khurram Dastgir on Monday reaffirmed Pakistan’s position as a responsible nuclear state and vowed to continue with the policy of full spectrum deterrence. However, the parliamentary leaders criticised the government for its ambiguous stance on important foreign policy issues in Monday’s National Assembly session. In his policy statement in National Assembly on Monday, Defence Minister said that country’s defence was robust and our vigilant and highly trained armed forces continued to protect and defend our land, sea and air borders. “The government will meet with vigour and commitment the growing challenges to Pakistan’s security and towards maintaining strategic stability in the region,” he said. Mentioning the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in war against terrorism, Khurram Dastgir stated that we have cleared safe havens of terrorists from the country for which we paid huge price. The minister said the United States had been fighting in Afghanistan for the last sixteen years, but had failed to achieve the targets as half of the Afghanistan was a safe haven for terrorists. He said Pakistan should not be made a scapegoat for US failures in Afghanistan. Dastgir said we respect sovereignty of Afghanistan and wished to see our neighbour to prosper as a democracy. “However, Pakistan will like this courtesy to be reciprocated. The Afghan war cannot be fought on Pakistani soil. The way forward for Pak-US relations should not be through threats, notices and suspension of support,” he said. The minister also mentioned the grave human rights violation in Indian Occupied Kashmir and mass ceasefire violations along the Line of Control by India. “India committed 1,300 ceasefire violations leaving 52 death and 155 injuries in last one year,” he said, while informing the house that even today Indian unprovoked firing resulted in the martyrdom of our four valiant soldiers. On the other side, though the parliamentary leader of Pakistan People’s Party Parliamentarian Syed Naveed Qamar welcomed the move of taking National Assembly into confidence by the minister but at the same time he pointed out a difference of opinion among state institutions. “It is not clear who is responding on the behalf of Pakistan. Is it an elected government, foreign office or GHQ?” he asked. Chief whip of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf Shireen Mazari said they were expecting that the policy statement of defence minister would clear the things, but it had created more confusion. She said India had given us a threat of nuclear weapons, but the statement had no mention of it “Earlier, the foreign minister said that the US was no more an ally, but the spokesperson of the Foreign Office termed the said statement personal frustration of the foreign minister,” she said. Jamiat Ulema-e Islam Fazl Chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman stated that the foreign policy should not based on static rules, but it should evolve around the national interest. “Policy adopted after 9/11 was not in best interests of the country because it was conceived under a threat. The United States is asking us for its 33 billion dollars, but in fact we have destroyed our infrastructure worth of 200 billion dollars.” Parliamentary Leader of Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party Mahmood Khan Achakzai said: “Threats are gathering against Pakistan, but the state institutions are trying to fight them,” he said. Published in Daily Times, January 16th 2018.