Shifting responsibility: K-P gives centre 15 days to halt drones, NATO supplies

Following the deadline, the province will be independent to pursue its own course.

PESHAWAR:

The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) Assembly on Monday unanimously adopted a resolution demanding the federal government stop Nato supplies by November 20 or K-P will be independent to pursue its own course of action.

Minister for Information Shah Farman introduced the resolution and it was unanimously adopted by the house in a session which lasted almost 20 minutes. The resolution insists upon the federal government to take concrete steps to put an end to drone strikes.

“This assembly demands the federal government to hold a meeting at the national level to discuss the course of action in order to continue with the peace process,” Farman said while tabling the resolution.



The minister said Pakistan considers drones strikes an attack on its sovereignty and has protested against every single one; however, the US continues to conduct them despite repeated protests. Hundreds of innocent elders, women and children have died in these remote-controlled attacks, said Farman.

“Over 350 drone strikes since 2004 have resulted in an increase in terrorism, economic decline and collapse of law and order in the country,” he insisted.

The information minister pointed out political leaders backed the efforts of a tribal jirga towards peace, while the present government also agreed to talks with the Taliban. Quoting the federal interior minister, Farman said the US had assured it would stop drone attacks, but the most recent one took place at a time when peace efforts were at a stage of fruition.

“Under a conspiracy, the US carried out the drone attack which has dealt a blow to the peace process,” he said, referring to Friday’s strike in North Waziristan Agency which killed Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) chief Hakimullah Mehsud.

The assembly proceedings were later postponed indefinitely.

Prior to the session, the treasury and opposition leaders took nearly three and a half hours to agree on the draft. The session was supposed to begin at 4pm, but started at 7:40pm because of a long round of closed-door discussions between the government and the opposition.

All aboard?

Following the session, the assembly’s opposition leaders criticised the government, terming it ‘confused.’

Awami National Party parliamentary leader Sardar Hussain Babak told the media the provincial government only tried to shift responsibility to the federal government.

“The government was confused about this resolution and said there were some constitutional hurdles. This is the reason why the session started after a delay of nearly three hours,” said Babak. The lawmaker shared opposition parties supported the resolution as the government would have cast them in a bad light had they opposed it.

Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl lawmaker Maulana Luftur Rehman said the K-P government’s real challenge would begin after November 20.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th,2013.