Senate session: Rabbani questions US cell at Karachi airport

Says building Tactical Command and Operations Centre violates terms of engagement with US, ISAF and NATO.

ISLAMABAD:

Pakistan People’s Party Senator Raza Rabbani expressed concerns on Wednesday over granting permission to the US Army Corps of Engineers to build a Tactical Command and Operations Centre (TCOC) compound at Karachi’s Jinnah International Airport.

Speaking on a calling attention notice in Senate, Rabbani said that building the compound would be a violation of the revised terms of engagement with USA, Isaf, Nato and the general foreign policy.

“It (granting permission to US Army to build TCOC) is a violation of the new terms of engagement drafted by the Parliamentary Committee on National Security [and] approved by the joint sitting of the Parliament,” Rabbani said.

Islamabad reportedly allowed US Army Corps of Engineers to build a TCOC compound at the Jinnah Airport in Karachi to exchange information with Pakistan Customs Drug Enforcement Cell regarding smuggling activities in and around the port city.



Reports claimed that the compound would be spread over an approximate area of 7,000 square feet and a 900 square feet building.

According to the terms of the engagement – unanimously approved by Parliament last year – all agreements and MoUs will be circulated to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security. The committee would then make recommendations in consultation with stakeholders and forward it to the Federal Cabinet for approval.

Having failed to respond to the calling attention notice, Finance Minister Saleem Mandviwalla asked for a day or two before he could give an answer – clouding the issue into further doubt.

“If he [the minister] does not know about the issue then who is running the state’s affairs,” Rabbani retorted.  Thereby, Chairman Senate Nayyar Hussain Bokhari asked the finance minister to respond to the calling attention notice by Monday.

Pointing out contradictions in the engagement, Rabbani said that the clarification produced by the customs department claimed that US Engineers will build the TCOC and it would be run by Pakistanis. However, a US based website claimed that the TCOC is being constructed with cooperation of both the countries to coordinate and monitor Karachi and the entire coastal belt to curb smuggling, the senator pointed out.

No such permission granted: Secretary

The defence secretary strongly denied on Wednesday media reports that the US army had been allowed to build a Tactical Command and Operations Centre (TCOC) at the Karachi airport.

At a meeting of the National Assembly Standing Committee on Defence, Defence Secretary Lt-Gen (retd) Asif Yasin Malik was asked by members to clarify reports about permission granted to the US army to build the customs facility.

The defence secretary informed the panel that no such permission was given to the US army.

He said the defence ministry had taken notice of the project’s tender released by the US Army Corps of Engineer in the Middle East for the construction of the compound at Karachi airport.

Malik said the defence ministry has approached both the US and concerned authorities in Pakistan to investigate the matter.

Talking to reporters after the meeting, the defence secretary said the tender for the US TCOC had been released in the UAE, and that the defence ministry had nothing to do with the compound or any such project.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 28^th, 2013.