ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Defence has taken an important step to start dialogue on Civil-Military Relations with a view to have consultation between representatives of different stakeholder on the important national and security issues to ensure peace, security and development in the country.
The Senate Standing Committee on Defence headed by Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed held its 2nd Civil-Military Relations dialogue on Wednesday here at Institute for Parliamentarians Service here which was participated by members of the Committee, parliamentarians, representatives of civil society, students and journalists.
Chairman Senate Standing Committee on Defence Senator Mushahid Hussain Sayed while highlighting the aims and objectives of the dialogue said the Senate Committee will work as a bridge between parliamentarians and military, and between Khaki and Mufti to find unanimous solution to the problems being faced by the country inclusion the main issues of national security and fighting war against extremism and terrorism.
Senator Mushahid said in the present circumstances and with strong and patriotic military, vibrant media and civil society, strong and effective judiciary and dynamic and effective parliament, there is need to have a dialogue among the all stakeholder to face the challenges. He said there is a lot of room and space for the civil society and parliament to play more effective role in the national affairs with showing maturity, good governance and improvement of law and order situation in the country.
Senator Mushahid who is also General Secretary Pakistan Muslim League said there is need to have balance approach in civil- military relationship and it should be discussed openly with open mind. Highlighting the aims and objectives of the civil-military relationship, Senator Mushahid said there is no blame game the Senate Standing Committee on Defence wants to play as a bridge between military and media besides Khaki and Mufti.
He said parliament fully extended its support to Army in Swat operation. Mushahid said the members of the Standing Committee also visited graves of Nishan-e-Haider on September 6 this year to pay homage to the shaheeds of September war.
Appreciating the support given to the Standing Committee on Defence, Mushahid said such type of dialogue will be continued in future so that unanimous policies could be adopted to face the common challenges like extremism and terrorism.
Senator Farhat Ullah Babar, Spokesman to the President addressing on this occasion said that the mind set that some of segments are more patriotic and others are less patriotic should be resolved. He said that Pakistan Military, a strong, professional and dedicated army has the capacity to face all types of criticism.
Senator Haji Adeel Ahmed leader of the Awami National Party,Senator Sehar Kamaran, Senator Mohsin Leghari, Syed Salim Jilani former Defence Minister and Defence Secretary, Lt. Gen. (Retd) Saleem Haider and Dr. Hassan Askari Rizvi speaking on the occasion highlighted the importance of more cooperation and interaction between military and parliamentarians.
They suggested that keeping in view the present regional situation, security threat to the country and different challenges being faced by the country on extremism and terrorism, no one could deny a strong and effective military.
During question-answer session, a number of participation from different walks of life including staff and student of National Defence University asked different question about the topic which were answered by the members of the panel.