Mumbai attack law suit: Govt throws weight behind ISI officials

Prime minister says his government is as sensitive about the issue as anybody else.

ISLAMABAD: The government said on Thursday that any decision about sending ISI officials to appear before a US court in the Mumbai attack case will be taken after consulting the country’s top intelligence agency and other stakeholders.

In response to a point of order raised by Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan, who expressed serious concerns over the summoning of some former and sitting ISI officials by a US court, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said his government was as sensitive about the issue as anybody else in the house.

“No one can force ISI officials to appear in the US court without its (ISI’s) will. We will take a decision in this regard after consulting with the ISI,” Gilani said. A court in Brooklyn has summoned present ISI authorities and head of banned outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba to appear before it next month in connection with the suit filed by relatives of Rabbi Gavriel Noach Holtzberg and his wife, who were among the 166 people killed in the 2008 Mumbai attacks.

In his speech, Chaudhry Nisar condemned the US court for summoning the ISI chief and other officers in the case and said it is not the decision of the court, but a political move to bring Pakistan under pressure. He said the government must take it seriously and protect Pakistan’s sovereignty.

On the issue of launching a military operation in North Waziristan, Gilani said no such action will be taken on any foreign pressure, adding that his government will take the nation into confidence before taking any such decision.

“No one should have an impression that they can dictate when military operations should be conducted in North Waziristan and South Waziristan,” he added.

However, he said action will be taken against elements who challenge the writ of the state.

Referring the problems in Balochistan, the prime minister said that it is a sensitive issue and there is no foreign interference in the province. He said the government and the opposition should sit together to devise a common and comprehensive strategy to tackle the issue.

Referring to the arrest of Jamhuri Watan Party’s provincial president Shahzain Bugti, Gilani said that law-enforcement agencies, including the Frontier Constabulary, Frontier Corps and Federal Investigation Agency, cannot take actions on their own without the approval of the provincial government.

Parliamentary leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam in the National Assembly Maulana Fazlur Rehman, who has recently parted ways with the PPP government in the centre said that his party joined the government under an agreement, but the promises made were not fulfilled.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 24^th, 2010.