Nawaz blasts government over Abbottabad probe delay

PML-N considers mounting a ‘decisive’ anti-govt drive.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif criticised the government on Thursday for failure to initiate a probe into the May 2 US incursion in accordance with the resolution adopted during the joint session of parliament’s secret session and indications emerged that the party is in the process of contacting opposition parties to mount pressure on the government in this regard.

Nawaz Sharif was talking with reporters at the airport here before he left for Nawabshah to condole with President Asif Ali Zardari over the demise of his father. The visit was postponed because of bad weather.

Although the opposition leader repeated his assertions, criticising the government, he evaded questions about his party’s line of action.

“The government does not seem to be serious in investigating the PNS Mehran attack and has put the issue of forming an independent commission (to probe the May 2 incursion) on the back burner. The prime minister has not yet responded to the letter written by Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar,” he said.

Nawaz said his party wanted the attack on PNS Mehran to be probed by “independent commission”.

Meanwhile, a PML-N leader said that his party had started contacting opposition parties and “is weighing options to mount a ‘decisive’ protest campaign against the government over its ‘silence’ on the issue of setting up an independent commission to probe the Abbottabad incursion by US forces.

“Nawaz Sharif has started the consultation process with other opposition party leaders to evolve a strategy in response to the government’s lukewarm response,” PML-N’s Khurram Dastgir Khan told The Express Tribune.

The party, it is learnt, is likely to stage a series of protests during the budget session of parliament.

The PML-N, party sources said, also started contacting other opposition parties for deciding upon making a collective move against the government.

“The government seems uninterested in cleaning its own house,” Dastgir Khan said.

Underlining the need for launching a ‘serious investigation’, he said “such incidents cannot be swept under the carpet”. The country had lost its credibility in the wake of faulty policies being pursued by the government, he added.

“Such incidents [of security lapses] are providing international powers [who do not want Pakistan a nuclear power] with opportunity to pursue their agenda,” Khan said.

When asked about the progress in connection with the selection of the commission members, Dastgir Khan said: “The government has not uttered a single word in this regard.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2011.