Senators on Monday asked the government to constitute a Hamoodur Rehman-like commission to fix responsibility and determine who provided logistic support to Osama Bin Laden during his stay in Pakistan. They said the nation was fed up with the confused and two-faced policies of the government and the military establishment and wanted to know the facts which pushed the country in a situation where no one across the world was ready to believe Pakistan’s point of view.
They demanded the government come up with a clear policy on the Taliban, Al Qaeda and the war on terror, as contradictions and confusion in this regard had caused an irreparable loss to the nation. The House continued discussion on a commenced motion on the US’ Abbottabad operation and its implications after suspending the agenda business. Taking part in the debate, Hafiz Rashid Ahmad said the incident was a serious attack on the security of the country. Senator Zahid Khan urged the government to constitute an independent commission for a thorough investigation into the Abbotabad incident, within a specified time limit.
Mushahidullah Khan said a larger bench of the apex court should be constituted to investigate the incident and stressed on the need for taking the nation into confidence over the issue. Abdul Khaliq Pirzada proposed that a roundtable conference be convened and the nation informed of the truth around the incident. Moulana Abdul Ghafoor Haideri said the nation was justified in asking what the army did to safeguard the sovereignty of the country.
Syed Zafar Ali Shah of the PML-N demanded the president, prime minister, chief of army staff and ISI chief resign in the wake of the incident. Senator Abdul Raziq of FATA urged the rulers to revisit the country’s Afghan policy. Senator Humayun Khan Mandokhel linked the Abbotabad incident with the Afghan war. Maulana Gul Naseeb Khan of the JUI-F, however, adopted a different line, saying, “We should not blame each other at this juncture.”
He cautioned the rulers that the country’s neighbours, including Iran, China, Russia and India were not happy with Pakistan. Senators from the treasury, except the PPP, and the opposition staged a walkout, protesting against Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani’s choice of taking the National Assembly into confidence over the Abbottabad operation while ignoring the Upper House.
