Need for consensus on security issues

Taking his own constituency – the military cadres – into confidence over the killing of al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden by US forces in a covert operation, Chief of Army Staff Gen Ashfaq Kayani on Monday said the public dismay and despondency over the Abbottabad incident had been aggravated due to an insufficient formal response, as he stressed the need for consensus on important security issues, including the war on terror.
According to an ISPR statement, addressing officers at Rawalpindi, Kharian and Sialkot garrisons, Kayani said the Abbottabad incident had been in sharp public focus. The ISPR, however, did not elaborate as to who – the military or political leadership – had failed to give a sufficient formal response. Discussing the one-point agenda of his address, the army chief said, “Incomplete information and lack of technical details have resulted in speculations and misreporting. Public dismay and despondency has also been aggravated due to insufficient formal response,” he said.
“It is believed that the people of Pakistan need to be taken into confidence through their honourable elected representatives,” he said.The COAS said he had requested Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to consider convening of a joint session of parliament to brief them on security issues related to the Abbottabad incident. Kayani said he had also requested Gilani to put democracy’s strength into effect to develop a consensus on important security issues, including the war on terror.
“Under the circumstances articulation of a national response through parliament is the most effective way to let the world know the historic achievements of Pakistan against al Qaeda and its terror affiliates,” General Kayani said. He said, “This would not have been possible without the active support and invaluable sacrifices of the people of Pakistan.”