ISLAMABAD – There is a visible difference in the country’s policy on drone attacks and the political and military leadership of the country is on the same page on the matter, Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination and chairman of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security Mian Raza Rabbani said on Tuesday. He was briefing reporters after an in-camera meeting of the parliamentary committee. “The matter of drone attacks is a sensitive issue and there is a visible difference in Pakistan’s policy in this regard, because now demarches are being issued which was unimaginable before and Pakistan refused to participate in Brussels talks.
All that reflects that Pakistan now following a policy which is different from that of the past and both military and civil leadership are on the same page in this regard,” Rabbani said. He said a new tragic history was being written in the form of drone attacks in the country and Pakistan was paying a heavy price for it.
“Pakistan is the country which suffered the most in human and economic terms. The drone attacks create instability that hampers foreign investment and the West must take notice of the losses and come with a justified and equitable solution to the problem”, he said.
Rabbani added that it was commitment both of the government and parliament that sovereignty of the country would not be compromised. Asked that the committee had done nothing regarding non-implementation of parliament’s resolution, Rabbani said the committee was not as active in matters of national security as it ought to be.
To a question on a report published in US media that President Asif Ali Zardari had said that the ISI was playing a dual game in the war against terror, Rabbani said the report was baseless and the US media was publishing such news for public consumption.
Earlier, Rabbani told reporters that the committee was briefed by the Foreign Office about the recent talks between Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani-led delegation and Afghan President Hamid Karzai. He also added that the committee also discussed the overall law and order in the country and asked the Ministry of Interior to brief the committee on the issue in the next meeting.
