Opposition Leader Dr Keith Rowley says the People’s National Movement (PNM) has no problem with this country voting to support a United Nations resolution against the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (Isis). Rowley made the comment in a release issued in response to Attorney General Anand Ramlogan’s condemnation of an earlier statement he made, indicating that the T&T Government should have refused to support United States President Barack Obama’s UN Resolution against the terrorist group.
Ramlogan had said on Wednesday that the resolution sought to build a global partnership in the international community to meet the mounting challenge of terrorism. The AG said: “The war against terrorism is not one from which any nation can afford to stay away. It is our collective duty and responsibility to join hands to protect our citizens.” Ramlogan said it was backward and anachronistic for any potential leader to say this country has to be careful to walk among the gears and don’t get crushed.
“It is clear that Dr Rowley has no idea of foreign policy and he has no vision for Trinidad and Tobago beyond our shores,” Ramlogan added. But on Thursday Rowley said the PNM, which has successfully guided Trinidad and Tobago’s foreign policy since independence in 1962, has consistently made a clear distinction between voting in support of a resolution as against sponsoring or co-sponsoring a resolution.
He said when T&T sponsors or co-sponsors a resolution at the UN, “it means that we are leading the charge on the issue.” Prime Minister Persad-Bissessar, Rowley said, has co-sponsored a resolution sharply focused on Isis and the developments directly associated with the geopolitics of the brutality and increasing instability of the Middle East.”
“It is disingenuous for the Attorney General and others in the Cabinet to misrepresent the PNM position as not condemning acts of terrorism. At no time was it said that Trinidad and Tobago should not vote for the resolution,” Rowley said. The PNM leader said Persad-Bissessar’s decision to sign was done for public relations promotion, and done so without consultation in the country or at Caricom level.
Rowley said given the nature of the politics, the focus of the issue and the country being unprepared, we should “avoid appearing to be leading the charge against situations which our Government don’t fully understand and about which no one has been consulted.” “Matters of this nature are far too important and far reaching for our nation to be left to the vaps of the spin doctors surrounding the Prime Minister,” he added.
The Government and the Opposition have been critical of each other in the mater and have been issuing statements almost on a daily basis to defend its respective position on the matter.