ISLAMABAD – Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani assured the National Assembly on Thursday that the Inter-Services Agency (ISI), being the extremely important and sensitive organization, would never be asked to appear before a US court.
“We are as sensitive about this issue as any other in the House,” the prime minister said after Opposition Leader Ch Nisar Ali Khan expressed apprehensions over summoning of the top intelligence officials by a US court.
Prime Minister Gilani though refrained from announcing what he called a policy statement on the issue, however, held out a firm assurance that a decision to that effect, if taken, would involve mutual consensus. He dispelled the perception as if the government was not in the knowledge of certain important developments.
Turning to Balochistan, Gilani said that law enforcement agencies, including the Frontier Constabulary, the Frontier Corps and the Federal Investigation Agency, could not take actions on their own without the approval of the provincial government. He drew attention of the House towards foreign elements in Balochistan and asked lawmakers to shoulder responsibility and be counted for improving the situation there.
He said that many a time the government took onboard the nation and all political leadership within as well as outside the House before it launched military offensives against terrorists in Malakand, Swat and Waziristan. He said it was an important decision meant to improve law and order a pre-requisite for improving the economy.
