Bonn free: Parliamentary panel endorses govt’s strong stand

Gilani says armed forces instru­cted to respon­d, with full force, to territ­orial infrin­gement­s.

ISLAMABAD: This time, there may be no turning back.

The cabinet’s decision to boycott a crucial conference in Bonn, Germany on the Afghan endgame was endorsed by the parliamentary committee on national security on Friday.  The conference, which has been planned for a year, will be attended by 90 countries on Monday.

The bicameral parliamentary panel was tasked to frame Pakistan’s new terms of engagement in the US-led war against terrorism afterlast week’s attacks in Mohmand Agency that killed 25 troops. The 17-member parliamentary committee, headed by Senator Raza Rabbani had representatives from all parties with presence in either of the two houses of parliament.

The prime minister, foreign minister and director-general of Military Operations briefed the committee in the closed-door session.

“We have been told that the US will be vacating Shamsi Airbase soon. We wanted to know the status of their (US) bases in Jacobabad and Pasni, but no concrete answer was given,” a participant of the meeting told The Express Tribune.

Three committee members from nationalist parties, Asfandyar Wali, Shahid Bugti and Mir Israrullah Zehri did not participate. The absence of Asfandyar Wali, chief of PPP’s coalition partner Awami National Party, raised eyebrows in the meeting.

In a briefing to journalists after the meeting, the information minister said the committee had endorsed the decisions taken by the federal cabinet and defence committee of the cabinet not to attend the Bonn conference. She ducked some specific questions since all information could not be made public.

There was no word if the suspension of Nato’s supply routes was permanent. However, one of the participants said that the issue was part of the committee’s agenda.

“The authorities (military) could not give any satisfactory answers over continued drone attacks,” another member said.

“The committee has been tasked to formulate the overall terms of reference in 10-15 days that would be put forward before the joint session of the parliament,” a treasury member said. He said the next meeting of the committee has been convened on December 8.

Prime minister’s briefing 

In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani claimed Pakistan’s ‘red lines’ - including no infringement of Pakistan’s territorial integrity and sovereignty - have been made abundantly clear to the United States, Nato and Isaf. “We also conveyed, in no uncertain terms, to the US and Nato forces that these attacks will have consequences,” he said.

He said it was regrettable that Pakistan’s willingness to cooperate with the international community on counterterrorism has not been understood properly.

He said Pakistan’s enormous sacrifices and contribution in the campaign against militancy has not been adequately acknowledged. What is worse is the tendency to make Pakistan a scapegoat for the failings of international policies in Afghanistan, Gilani added.

The country’s efforts to improve relations with Afghanistan and support Afghan-led and Afghan-owned efforts for peace and reconciliation have also been misconstrued and actively subverted by certain quarters.

“Clearly, there is a limit to our patience. Cooperation cannot be a one-way street. Under these challenging and difficult circumstances, Pakistan has maintained a principled approach and exercised utmost restraint.” However, he said it would be a grave miscalculation on anyone’s part that stability and peace in Afghanistan can be restored or maintained by destabilising Pakistan.

Gilani said instructions have been issued to all units of the armed forces to respond, with full force, to any act of aggression and infringement of Pakistan’s territorial frontiers.

Our continued cooperation in this regard can only be premised on a partnership that is consistent with Pakistan’s national interests and respect for Pakistan’s sovereignty, independence and absolutely zero-tolerance for any transgression against Pakistan’s state frontiers.

“Pakistan does not seek aid or economic assistance from the United States. What we seek, in fact demand, is respect for our sovereignty and territorial integrity, a firm and categorical commitment on “inviolability” of Pakistan’s borders and on non-recurrence of such incidents.”

(Read: Wisdom better than rash bravado)

Published in The Express Tribune, December 3^rd, 2011.