Whimper or roar: Parliamentary panel warns US against ‘adventurism’

Expresses concern over the way it is dealing with the Afghan insurgency.

ISLAMABAD: A parliamentary panel on national security backed a 13-point resolution passed by the All Parties Conference (APC) on Monday and warned the United States not to consider the option of conducting military operations in Pakistan.

“We will never allow American boots on our soil,” said panel chairman Senator Raza Rabbani on Monday. “It would be better for the US to focus on negotiations instead of hurling baseless allegations.” Islamabad wants to maintain peace in the region, but there will be no compromise on national security and sovereignty, declared committee members from both houses of parliament. “The panel has summoned Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar for a briefing on security-related issues,” members told The Express Tribune. Lawmakers hit hard on Washington’s attitude towards its front-line ally in response to Admiral Mike Mullen’s allegations against Pakistan’s premier intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Mullen had accused the ISI of maintaining links with the Haqqani Network, a militant group conducting raids against US forces in Afghanistan.

“Relations between Islamabad and Washington have deteriorated because of the unusual increase in militant activities in Afghanistan,” Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir informed the panel. “The ongoing tension between the two allies appears to be defusing after the APC’s resolution,” he added. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar could not attend the meeting due to her tight schedule in and outside the country, he said.

The committee also expressed concern on the way the US is dealing with the Afghan imbroglio, considering the fact that it is looking for a safe exit.

The committee has recommended that the defence ministry take concrete steps to safeguard the country’s borders, especially the north-west frontier.

Khar will brief the committee on the ongoing tension between Washington and Islamabad at the next meeting scheduled for October 11. She will inform members about ‘the concerns of the international community’ over the heightened insurgency in Afghanistan despite a decade-long war by the US and its allies’ forces to maintain peace in the region. The committee will prepare recommendations in light of briefings by the foreign and defence ministers and forward them to the bicameral legislature for approval.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 4^th, 2011.