Islamabad- Defense Minister Khawaja Asif said today that the decision regarding sending troops to Yemen to fight the rebels in Saudi Arabia-led offensive is yet to be made.
He expressed these views while addressing the National Assembly (NA) session in Islamabad. Contrary to Saudi Arabia’s view that five Muslim countries including Egypt and Pakistan expressed interest in wanting to participate in the Gulf-led military coalition against Huthi, Asif said that no such decision had yet been made.
“Should we need to commit troops, the parliament will be taken into confidence,” the minister said. “Pakistan will by all means defend Saudi Arabia and its integrity if it is harmed.”
Asif said that the government is keeping in mind the ongoing crisis in the country as well as the relations with Saudi Arabia. He reiterated that all the conflicts in the Islamic world need to be brought to an end and Pakistan will do its best to assist in doing so.
He stressed on Pakistan's role as 'facilitator' to end the conflicts in the Muslim world.
"Instead of aggravating the situation by participating in it, Pakistan should do what it can to prevent it - for the alliance and unity of the Muslim world," the defence minister said. "Pakistan is ready to adopt whatever role is needed in order to facilitate the termination of conflicts in the Islamic world."
"We will not take part in any conflict that could result in differences in the Muslim world, causing fault-lines present in Pakistan to be disturbed, the aggravation of which will have to be borne by Pakistan," he asserted.
"We want this issue to be resolved in a common forum where the Muslim world or Arab League is involved," said the defence minister. "The need of the hour is alliance and solidarity, not division."
"Division on the basis of religion or sect is rising in Syria, Iraq and Yemen. Instead of conflagration or proliferation. It should be contained," he added.
He went on to say that no decision to take part in the Yemeni conflict has been made by the government.
"We offered to visit [KSA] so we can assess the situation. The Arab League took up this matter, hopefully they will be able to resolve the matter in a forum. They can also take it to the OIC. We will see what happens in a couple of days. If we have to visit, we will definitely go there."
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