Taking a stand: Joint resolution against drone strikes submitted

Education ministry still a bone of contention between JI, PTI.

PESHAWAR:

Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) and its coalition partners in the provincial government – Jamaat-e-Islami (JI), Qaumi Watan Party (QWP) and Awami Jamhuri Ittehad (AJIP) – submitted a resolution against drone strikes in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly Secretariat on Wednesday.

The resolution signed by senior ministers Sirajul Haq, Sikandar Sherpao, PTI’s deputy parliamentary leader Shaukat Ali Yousafzai and Shahram Tarakai asks the federal government to constitute a clear policy on US drone strikes being carried out in the tribal areas.

“The K-P Assembly strongly condemns drone attacks on Pakistani soil and considers it a blatant violation of international law and an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” stated the resolution.

“The attacks are causing an increase in terrorist activities within the country and adversely affecting K-P’s economy. The provincial assembly, due to aforementioned reasons, asks the federal government to take effective measures to stop drone attacks and announce its clear policy in this regard,” it added.



Speaking on the occasion, JI leader Sirajul Haq said up to 46,000 innocent lives have been lost in the region due to incidents of terrorism, in which drone attacks have played a vital role.

Replying to a question regarding previous resolutions against drone strikes passed by both national and provincial assemblies, Siraj said the Pakistan Peoples Party’s government lacked the sincerity to end the attacks. However, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz will fulfil its promise, he insisted.

Education ministry row

The deadlock between the PTI and JI over the allotment of the education ministry could not be resolved at the parliamentary leaders meeting on Wednesday.

PTI’s deputy parliamentary leader Shaukat Ali Yousafzai, while commenting on the matter and the announcement of the provincial cabinet, said the two parties were on the same page regarding the issue and a formal announcement of the provincial cabinet will be made within two days.

However, sources within the JI said the delay in announcing cabinet members was due to the fact that all of PTI’s decisions regardingthe  government’s formation in the province were made by the party’s central leadership. “There is no problem with PTI’s provincial leadership, rather, the intervention from Lahore is complicating matters,” claimed one insider.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Pervez Khattak, while visiting slain Hangu MPA Farid Khan’s brother at the Lady Reading Hospital, said if drone attacks are not stopped it will result in weakening the Nawaz Sharif-led federal government. If the attacks do not end, coalition partners will form a joint strategy for a future course of action, he added.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 6^th, 2013.