President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Kayani decided in a meeting on Saturday that the prime minister will take the nation into confidence over the Abbottabad incident tomorrow (Monday).
“The meeting took cognizance of the current situation in its totality. The prime minister also briefed the president about his visit to France,” a statement issued by the Presidency said. A source told Pakistan Today that the government and the army’s top brass were not on the same page over how to handle the situation with each side asking the other to accept the responsibility and offer ‘sacrifice’ in the wake of criticism at home and questions being raised by the international community, particularly the US over the Pakistan’s incapacity or its complicity in the war against terrorism.
The source said the meeting decided to launch an aggressive diplomatic initiative to win the support of the country’s friendly states on the crucial issue. Under the same plan, Interior Minister Rehman Malik flew to Riadh to win Saudi Arabia’s support on this critical juncture. ISI DG General Shuja Pasha was already in Saudi Arabia. A statement issued by the PM’s office said Gilani held extensive consultations with the president, the defence minister, the minister of state for foreign affairs and the COAS on the situation arising in the wake of the Abbottabad operation resulting in the death of Osama Bin Laden. “The situation was comprehensively reviewed in the perspective of Pakistan’s national security and foreign policy,” it said.
“The prime minister will take the nation into confidence through the platform of parliament on Monday (tomorrow) and looks forward to a full debate on the matter on the floor of the House,” it said, adding that the prime minister emphasised during these consultations that the “sole criteria for formulating our stance is safeguarding Pakistan’s supreme national interest, by all means, by all state institutions, in accordance with the aspirations of the people of Pakistan, who above all value their dignity and honour”. A source privy to the meeting said, “To devise a joint strategy to handle the situation, army chief Ashfaq Kayani joined the civilian leadership including President Zardari and Prime Minister Gilani but despite a two-hour meeting, no conclusion was reached with both the civilian government and the army establishment agreeing to make joint efforts to cool down the public anger and come up with some new proposals after more discussions in the next few days to come,” a source said.
PM to take nation into confidence tomorrow
