Pakistan obligated to facilitate NATO, ISAF

Ministry of commerce says Pakistan is obligated to provide Nato and Isaf forces with logistic support and strategic.

ISLAMABAD: The ministry of commerce has said that Pakistan is obligated to provide Nato and Isaf forces in Afghanistan with logistic support and strategic cooperation under a UN Security Council declaration.

This was stated by a representative of the ministry during a briefing to the National Assembly’s standing committee on commerce.

The committee had asked the government to explain the terms and conditions under which the country allows its land routes to be used for the transport of supplies for Nato and Isaf forces in Afghanistan.

Secretary for Commerce Zafar Mahmood told the committee that the commerce ministry is not involved with the passage of supplies to Nato and Isaf troops but the additional secretary for commerce informed that a declaration was passed by the UN Security Council in 2001 according to which Pakistan would provide strategic assistance to the forces fighting in Afghanistan.

The procedure for the transport of supplies to the forces was developed by the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) in 2002, he said, adding the NATO supplies are a very sensitive issue that no bureaucrat could comment on.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 16^th, 2010.