CONSISTING of 34 selected countries and deceptively termed as `Islamic Coalition`, a highly divisive development is unfolding itself.
The coalition has been contrived to eliminate many eminent Muslim countries like Iran, Iraq, Syria and Oman. Treated like lesser beings and `taken for granted` countries like Pakistan discovered about their membership only through newspapers.
Pakistan would do well to announce its complete disassociation from this inherently defective partnership. Pakistan has itself suf fered long and grievous wounds of sectarian strife within its own borders.
It would be insane to join any new association that classifies Pakistan either as a supporter or as an enemy of one or the other sect. We ought to have learnt from our own experience of 1971 and from thefutility of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation that religious or sectarian considerations are neither wise nor reasons enough for forming coalitions.
We must also understand that obsequious postures such as declaring licences for falcons and houbaras as the cornerstone of our foreign policy will only be interpreted as signals of our willingness to partner in all kinds of mindless misadventures.
