Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) chief Nawaz Sharif termed the Abbottabad operation an attack on the sovereignty of Pakistan and called for a review of Pakistan-US relations, a private TV channel reported on Tuesday. Nawaz also demanded that the government form an independent commission to investigate the operation.
Addressing a joint meeting of the PML-N’s central organising committee and parliamentary party, Nawaz proposed that the independent commission should have equal strength from the treasury and the opposition, but he did not clarify whether his proposed commission would be parliamentary or non-parliamentary, or a mixture of the two.
He said the probe into the US operation would strengthen the country’s institutions.
“Time has come for responsibility to be fixed,” he said, according to a press release issued from the PML-N office. Nawaz also asked the government to review terms of engagement in the war on terror set in the regime of General (r) Pervez Musharraf with the US. He also asked the government to take a stern stance on the US operation.
Earlier, the joint meeting of the PML-N’s central organising committee and parliamentary party could not reach a consensus on whether the party should demand the government to constitute a Judicial Commission or a Parliamentary Committee to probe the operation.
The committee will meet again on Wednesday (today) to devise a strategy on the situation developed after the US forces’ operation in Pakistan. The PML-Quaid’s joining the coalition government would also come under discussion and the meeting would issue the party’s policy statement after the meeting. A source in the PML-N saidsome party leaders suggested that the PML-N should press the government for the formation of a Judicial Commission while others advised the PML-N chief that he should demand the formation of a Parliamentary Committee to probe the incident.
“Some other leaders opposed the suggestion for the formation of a Parliamentary Committee with the argument that it would be able to question the military top brass,” said the source.
