Parliamentary Committee on National Security: What Musharraf agreed to do, post 9/11

Nine Pak-US deals were discussed in a session and details finally came to light.


Zahid Gishkori December 25, 2011

ISLAMABAD:


After over a decade of secrecy and silence, some semblance of the nature of nine agreements between former president Pervez Musharraf and the US and its allies have finally been publicised. All agreements were drafted after Pakistan joined the ‘war on terror’ in 2001.


The Parliamentary Committee on National Security, in an in-camera session, was provided details of all the agreements on Saturday, which have now become a bone of contention between the allies after relations hit a low ebb in the wake of the November 26 Nato attacks.

“Musharraf is the man who sold out Pakistan’s sovereignty only to extend his rule. This is the gist of all these agreements in simple words,” said a lawmaker who attended the meeting of the parliamentary panel on Saturday.

The nine agreements

Although participants in the panel meeting were tight-lipped and refused to divulge details officially, the contents of the covert deals were revealed by sources to The Express Tribune.

The agreements reveal the level of military cooperation taking place between Pakistan and the US in the wake of September 11, 2011.

The first agreement pertains to Pakistan allowing US and NATO forces the right to fly over Pakistani airspace as well as landing rights, in order to conduct operations in Afghanistan and its ‘bordering areas’. The second agreement called for Islamabad to share intelligence with US and NATO forces for conducting operations against Taliban and al Qaeda leadership. The third agreement pertained to territorial access being provided to NATO and US forces until ‘the mission was completed’. Fourthly, Islamabad was to give access to Nato forces for fuel supply.

Pakistan also agreed to provide transit facilities to the International Security Assistant Forces (Isaf). In addition, an agreement also stated that all shipment of fuel to the Taliban (in power in Afghanistan at the time) would be cut off in order to curb terrorism.

The details of the two other deals remain generic so far – that Pakistan should cooperate with foreign forces to eliminate Al Qaeda from the region, and that the military cooperate with countries to ‘fight against terrorism’.

The remaining agreement refers specifically to the Coalition Support Fund, which would allow for Pakistan to receive funding in order to fight terrorism as a coalition partner, and to receive reimbursement for all its losses.

Defence ministry provides details

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani as well as the defence secretary and foreign affairs secretary have already briefed the committee on the issue. In its last meeting, the parliamentary panel sought the details of the record of these agreements which were presented on Saturday.

The details themselves were provided by the defence ministry to the committee, presided over by Senator Raza Rabbani. “We will prepare our recommendations in light of the documents related to the agreements,” Rabbani told reporters.

The defence secretary, in addition, separately submitted the replies of the director-general Inter-Services Intelligence as well as the chief of army staff on the November 26 Nato attacks and Pak-US relations on the ‘War on Terror’.

‘It’s all confidential’

The level of secrecy still being maintained remained apparent –details of the nine deals were kept hidden to the extent that copies were withheld even from the committee’s secretary.  All records have been sealed within the office of Senator Rabbani.

Meanwhile, a top ranking official from the defence ministry, who asked not to be identified, sent a text message to The Express Tribune when it sought details of these agreements. “It’s all confidential and the person who can permit and release some information is the chairman of the committee on national security.”

The committee has also summoned the finance minister on December 30 for a briefing on Pak-US economic agreements. Officials of the foreign office and ministry of defence are also to brief the committee then.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 25th, 2011.

COMMENTS (14)

Noor | 12 years ago | Reply

I still request our rulers / politicians to wake up, get sincerely to business to address the grievances of common citizens and stop accumulation of wealth & assets for personal gains.

We've examples from Islamic history that whenever the ruling class was incompetent or insincere, outsiders used their pressure to exploit their weaknesses.

Let me remind that when the dark night comes, it hits both rich & poor uniformally.

One can't be truly happy, unless the surrounding people are also happy & prosperous.

Please work for collective benefits and try sacrificing for others as much as possible, for this will return to you after great multiplication.

Naive | 12 years ago | Reply

@Feroz: Wait a minute sir!! Let the official details come forward. Had the sovereignty of Pakistan been sold, they would have presented the documents to media to get political benefits. They know, by telling the truth, they will not be able to continue their propaganda against PM. BTW provision of air space/bases, intelligence sharing, efforts to counter al qaeda/Taliban are no secrets and were the need of the hour.

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