Parties at different wavelengths on Abbottabad operation
* Mainstream parties criticise violation of sovereignty by US forces, nationalist parties remain focussed on circumstances that led US to launch operation inside Pakistan
By Tanveer Ahmed
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ISLAMABAD: Mainstream and nationalist political parties were at different wavelengths when the Senate on Thursday resumed the debate on the US operation that led to the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil.
Although there was a consensus among all the parties in the House to condemn, what they called, an aggression against the country’s territorial integrity, senators from different parties, however, saw the incident differently.
While the senators belonging to mainstream political parties, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), were vocal in criticising the violation of national sovereignty by US special forces to hunt down Bin Laden, the members of nationalist parties in the Upper House of parliament remained focussed on the circumstances which led the US to launch an operation inside Pakistan.
The debate on the Abbottabad incident resumed following an exchange of arguments between the treasury and opposition benches that whether the House should first take up the debate on the presidential address as demanded by the government side or Bin Laden’s killing as required by the opposition parties.
However, the opposition’s views finally prevailed when acting Speaker Jan Muhammad Jamali, while putting aside the presidential address item on the agenda, allowed the House to debate on the US surgical operation inside Pakistan.
Initiating the debate, Senator Ishaq Dar of the PML-N noted that the US ground operation in Abbottabad and the ensuing developments had posed serious implications for the country, which was being circled from different sides.
He said the US operation continued for some two hours, but national forces were unaware of it and learnt about it only when the US forces had left the country after completing the operation. He also questioned the felicitation extended to the US by the prime minister, saying he congratulated the US for what – “violating the country’s airspace and territorial boundaries”.
Dar felt that there was a complete lack of trust between Pakistan and the US as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief had clearly stated that “if we had shared the information about the presence of Bin Laden with Pakistan, he might have been alerted”.
He rejected the policy statement of the government on the issue, and demanded the prime minister to take the House onboard in this respect immediately after returning to the country from his foreign visit.
PPP’s Senator Raza Rabbani, while delivering a fiery speech, called the US operation a blatant aggression against the national integrity which, he said, was an open challenge for the entire Pakistan.
Rabbani warned that the country should remain prepared for the dire consequences that would result from the operation, and felt that this act of the US was an attempt to demonise Pakistan, like Iraq and Libya.
He noted that Pakistan was circled by two sides as on one side extremist forces were bent upon destroying the state structure while on the other hand Western forces wanted to destabilise it.
National Party’s Senator Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said that the world thought about Pakistan as a country having double standards in the war against terror. “The government claims there are no terrorist elements in Pakistan,” he said and pointed out that most of them (terrorists) had been captured from here.
He called for a major shift in the foreign policy and strategy on the war against terror, and urged that instead of the establishment, it should be framed by parliament.
Awami National Party’s (ANP) Afrasiab Khattak called for a review in the Afghan policy.
Pakhtunkhwa Awami Milli Party’s Senator Abdul Rahim Mandokhel stressed that the government will have to own the war on terror.
Senator Abdul Rasheed from FATA and Rahmat Kakar of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) also took part in the debate.
By Tanveer Ahmed
=================================================
ISLAMABAD: Mainstream and nationalist political parties were at different wavelengths when the Senate on Thursday resumed the debate on the US operation that led to the killing of al Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden on Pakistani soil.
Although there was a consensus among all the parties in the House to condemn, what they called, an aggression against the country’s territorial integrity, senators from different parties, however, saw the incident differently.
While the senators belonging to mainstream political parties, the Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) and Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), were vocal in criticising the violation of national sovereignty by US special forces to hunt down Bin Laden, the members of nationalist parties in the Upper House of parliament remained focussed on the circumstances which led the US to launch an operation inside Pakistan.
The debate on the Abbottabad incident resumed following an exchange of arguments between the treasury and opposition benches that whether the House should first take up the debate on the presidential address as demanded by the government side or Bin Laden’s killing as required by the opposition parties.
However, the opposition’s views finally prevailed when acting Speaker Jan Muhammad Jamali, while putting aside the presidential address item on the agenda, allowed the House to debate on the US surgical operation inside Pakistan.
Initiating the debate, Senator Ishaq Dar of the PML-N noted that the US ground operation in Abbottabad and the ensuing developments had posed serious implications for the country, which was being circled from different sides.
He said the US operation continued for some two hours, but national forces were unaware of it and learnt about it only when the US forces had left the country after completing the operation. He also questioned the felicitation extended to the US by the prime minister, saying he congratulated the US for what – “violating the country’s airspace and territorial boundaries”.
Dar felt that there was a complete lack of trust between Pakistan and the US as the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) chief had clearly stated that “if we had shared the information about the presence of Bin Laden with Pakistan, he might have been alerted”.
He rejected the policy statement of the government on the issue, and demanded the prime minister to take the House onboard in this respect immediately after returning to the country from his foreign visit.
PPP’s Senator Raza Rabbani, while delivering a fiery speech, called the US operation a blatant aggression against the national integrity which, he said, was an open challenge for the entire Pakistan.
Rabbani warned that the country should remain prepared for the dire consequences that would result from the operation, and felt that this act of the US was an attempt to demonise Pakistan, like Iraq and Libya.
He noted that Pakistan was circled by two sides as on one side extremist forces were bent upon destroying the state structure while on the other hand Western forces wanted to destabilise it.
National Party’s Senator Dr Abdul Malik Baloch said that the world thought about Pakistan as a country having double standards in the war against terror. “The government claims there are no terrorist elements in Pakistan,” he said and pointed out that most of them (terrorists) had been captured from here.
He called for a major shift in the foreign policy and strategy on the war against terror, and urged that instead of the establishment, it should be framed by parliament.
Awami National Party’s (ANP) Afrasiab Khattak called for a review in the Afghan policy.
Pakhtunkhwa Awami Milli Party’s Senator Abdul Rahim Mandokhel stressed that the government will have to own the war on terror.
Senator Abdul Rasheed from FATA and Rahmat Kakar of the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) also took part in the debate.
(source:.dailytimes.com.pk)
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