Pakistan facing international isolation: Farhatullah Babar

ISLAMABAD: Senator Farhatullah Babar on Wednesday said that Pakistan is being gradually isolated on an international level.

The senator was addressing a full house committee session of the Senate that took place today, where he said that new guidelines should be formulated for relations between the civil and military leadership.

“If the institutions aren’t on the same page then how would you implement guidelines for relations with other countries? “ he inquired.

The other senators present in the Senate session also expressed their views.

Chairman Senate Raza Rabbani over the strained US-Pakistan ties said that in the recent times the demand to ‘Do More’ has amplified. He also pointed towards the difficulty that Pakistan recently faced while negotiating over the purchase of F-16s from the US.

He said that the statements given by the US congressmen have been against the country’s sovereignty, national security, and national interest.

Few days ago, some of the US lawmakers had sought additional measures against Pakistan alleging that the country has failed to take action against terrorist groups.

A four-member, bipartisan US Senate delegation led by US senator John McCain visited Pakistan earlier this month in a bid to normalise relations between the two countries.

Relations between the United States and Pakistan took a turn for the worse after the May 21 American drone strike in which Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed. Pakistan termed the drone strike as an attack on its sovereignty and claimed that the Afghan reconciliation process had been negatively affected due to the attack.

The US Congress had also blocked the subsidised sale of eight F-16 jet fighters to Pakistan in May accusing of it of being lax in the fight against militants.