Toeing a separate line from his party, PPP Senator Lashkari Raisani on Tuesday said the case of US violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty in the Abbottabad operation should be taken up with the United Nations. Taking part in the debate on a statement by Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan in the Senate on the Abbottabad operation, he said the Abbottabad incident “is a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty by the US and the government should take up the matter with the United Nations”.
Senator Professor Ibrahim said the information minister repeated the same misleading statement that was issued by the Foreign Office after the incident. Senator Tariq Azeem said the government was in utter confusion, as the president remarks on the incident were different from those passed by the ambassador to the US. He also questioned Interior Minister Rehman Malik’s interview to an Arabic TV channel in which Malik said he had come to know of the incident 15 minutes after it started.
Malik who was in the House at the moment, clarified, saying that immediately after coming to know of the operation, he had directed the authorities concerned to investigate and report back. Senator Seemen Saddiqi said that Pakistan had to get rid of foreign aid if it wanted to retain its sovereignty, else such attacks would continue in the future.
Senator Haroon Akhtar said there were serious questions which the government had to answer.
