Fierce resistance by the opposition benches on the second consecutive day pushed the government to put off formal initiation of debate on national security committee’s recommendations on new terms of engagement with the United States, as Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Fazl chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman threatened that his party would not allow any NATO container to cross into Afghanistan even if parliament reopened NATO supply routes with majority. Though Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and JUI-F chief Fazlur Rehman did not formally take part in the debate, they made their party’s positions clear vis-à-vis PCNS recommendations while speaking in length on points of order. Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan declared that his party would not take part in formal debate on review of Pakistan-US relations and recommendations prepared for the purpose by PCNS unless and until the government addresses some of their genuine concerns. “Our major concern is that we don’t see these recommendations as enforceable. Who will give us the guarantee that these recommendations would be enforced and they will not meet the same fate as that of previous resolutions passed by the parliament such as those demanding end to the drone strikes,” he added He said, “The committee shall come up with the draft proposals, which ensures Pakistan’s sovereignty. In past we see passage of many such resolutions, they were not implemented and the government and also the parliament were least bothered about their implementation. How can we expect that the country’s sovereignty could be protected in such circumstances?” He said, “All past agreements and MoUs with US that are mentioned in the PCNS recommendations were the legacy of a military dictator General Musharraf, who sold the country’s sovereignty on one phone call from United States. Do you expect us to do the same? We will not do that.” Nisar said his party had another major concern about the clause that was about the presence of US security agencies’ personnel in Pakistan. “No country can tolerate the presence of secret agents and defense contractors on their soil and the only such states are Iraq and Afghanistan. Do you want this country to become another Iraq or Afghanistan? We will not become part of any such plan and scheme,” he added.
“The overt and covert operations that are mentioned in PCNS recommendations are done by people like Raymond Davis. Do you want a more of such things happening here? We are accountable to the people of this country and the government is also accountable. Do you want to make this country subservient to the foreign spies and secret agents? That is not going to happen. Can ISI operatives be allowed by the other countries to operate on their soil?” Nisar said.
He said if the government wanted to initiate formal debate on the future terms of engagement with the US, “they shall address our concerns, they shall do away with the objectionable clauses and only after that it is possible”. He said how would the government implement the recommendation regarding the end to drone attacks. Speaking on a point of order, Fazlur Rehman said: “It is strange that the Americans are talking about peace dialogue in Afghanistan and they also want us to open NATO supply routes so that they could send more weapons to their troops. But let me ask them for what purpose? President Obama says Afghan Taliban are not terrorists. The assassinated head of Afghan peace council Burhabuddin Rabbani also told me before his killing that he believed that Taliban are not terrorists but their brothers and they want to talk to them. Such is opinion of other EU states then why they want us facilitate them in sending of arms to Afghanistan, will those arms be used for fight against Pakistan or Iran?” He said, “We hear that the government has already planned to open the supply routes for NATO containers, they have reached a deal with US on that and all this debate in the parliament is merely eyewash.”
Fazl said they would not become part of any plan to reopen NATO supply routes inside the parliament, but if the government was adamant to approve these proposals then the JUI-F would stop the NATO supplies out in the field and the whole world would see that. “We are not cowards and we are not wearing bangles like women, we are brave sons of this soil,” he added. He said, “Now the government says that the US should apologize for Salala incident and over the killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers. We salute our brave soldiers but what about the killing of thousands of innocent people in drone strikes in the tribal areas. Should the US not be asked to apologize over that too?”
PML-N MNA Ayaz Amir said instead of back channel discussions, the report should be thoroughly debated on the floor of the parliament as it would have far reaching implications for the security of the country. He said on the face of it, the entire exercise seemed an attempt to create justification for restoration of NATO supplies. Mian Raza Rabbani, head of PCNS and senior PPP leader, tried to allay the concerns of opposition leaders by saying that it was PPP government which stopped the NATO supplies and it was again PPP government which got vacated the Shamsi airbase, so there shall not be any concerns about the implementation of PCNS proposals. He said, “The government wants consensus on the proposals and it’s the right of parliament either to accept or reject these recommendations or to amend them. We want to have a resolution backed by consensus in the parliament and not only by majority of the parliament members.” Rabbani said the report had been prepared by the committee where all parties had representation. He, however, expressed the view that the recommendations were broad policy guidelines that would serve as parameters for future foreign policy and the government would have to work within these parameters. Rabbani clarified that those were recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee and not of the government. Senator Farhatullah Babar congratulated Parliamentarians for acquiring their legitimate right to set parameters for foreign policy which was previously considered an exclusive domain of the civil and military establishment.
The joint session adopted a resolution unanimously expressing deep sorrow over the horrific death of Fakhra Younus and demanded justice for her and all other victims of acid throwing. The resolution moved by Kashmala Tariq also demanded that the culprit who defaced her should be identified and punished. The joint session of parliament approved “The Stock Exchanges (Corporatization, Demutualization and Integration) Bill, 2009” which was passed by the National Assembly and not passed by the Senate within ninety days. It was moved by Federal Minister Syed Khurshid Ahmad Shah.
