As Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Director General Lt Gen Ahmad Shuja Pasha rejected US allegations that Pakistan was exporting terrorism and the headquarters of the Haqqani network was based in Pakistan, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) President Nawaz Sharif created a stir during the All-Parties Conference (APC) on Thursday by questioning the government’s policies.
“The world is not trusting us… this means there is something [wrong],” a source quoted Sharif as saying in response to the ISI chief’s briefing, prompting Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Syed Munawar Hasan to interrupt the PML-N president and tell him to understand the situation. Hasan seemed to perceive Sharif’s concerns and questions as endorsement of the US allegations. “Were the continuing drone attacks and the May 2 incident not an attack on our sovereignty?” Sharif asked, and criticised the prime minister for declaring the US action in Abbottabad a great victory and the president for writing an article for an American newspaper.
The PML-N president told the APC participants that the country would not have been facing a security situation if the government had implemented the parliamentary resolutions. “Bring all these issues to parliament,” he demanded, asking the participants to consider why Pakistan was diplomatically isolated. He asked the prime minister why he had not implemented the parliamentary resolutions if he agreed with them. “Who will take us seriously and accept our point of view if we don’t implement parliamentary resolutions?” asked Sharif, at which point Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani was quoted as telling Sharif that he would address his concerns.
While Sharif and Munawwar Hasan debated on the issue, Mahmood Khan Achakzai, the only politician from Balochistan, stood up while the ISI chief was still briefing the participants and responding to their questions and said peace could be restored in Afghanistan in a month if the ISI wanted. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan stated that Pakistan had suffered the most in the war on terror. He called for immediately end to all military operations in the tribal areas in order to initiate talks. As the participants expressed their points of view, the ISI chief firmly told them that Pakistan’s armed forces were fully capable of giving a fitting response to any aggression. He rejected allegations that the headquarters of the Haqqani network was based in Pakistan.
“We will not take any dictation to launch a military operation in any part of the country… We will ourselves decided when and where to launch a military operation,” a source quoted Lt General Pasha as saying. He explained the situation to the participants and told them that the Haqqanis controlled seven provinces in Afghanistan, and categorically denied that the ISI was “exporting terrorism”.
Where’s the trust, wonders Nawaz
