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Friday, May 20, 2011
Pak-US relations need to be clearly defined: SAFMA
* Participants of consultative meeting say parliament must define national security
LAHORE: A South Asian Free Media Association (SAFMA) consultative meeting underscored that the Pakistan-United States relations need to be clearly defined and on a long-term basis to the mutual benefit of the two sides without in any way providing room to the US for any unilateral action on Pakistani soil.
“National security policy must be defined by parliament that should have full control over the budgets and command structures of the armed forces and intelligence agencies that must completely submit to the elected government in accordance with their constitutional obligations,” emphasised the participants of the consultation titled “Post-operation Geronimo – predicaments of Pakistan”, held in Islamabad on Wednesday.
The participants said that Pakistan should not allow any sanctuary to terrorists on its soil or fall prey to the provocateurs to take a confrontational course. They condemned all extremist elements and terrorist groups, their patrons, protectors, financers and handlers, who defy the state writ at their will and use Pakistan’s territory to further their nefarious designs against the masses while undermining the country’s internal sovereignty and bringing it into conflict with its neighbours and the international community.
They said that independence and sovereignty were relative and predicated on the comparative economic and intellectual strength of a nation and could not be maintained in isolation or a state of dependency. “For this, Pakistan must set its own house in order and lay the sound economic, intellectual and institutional foundation for a self-respecting nation at peace with itself and the world at large,” the added.
The participants of the consultation also denounced the unilateralism and violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty at the hands of American forces in violation of international law and UN conventions. They took serious note of the current predicaments that the people and the state of Pakistan had been facing at the hands of a narrow militaristic, adventurist and isolationist security paradigm and self-defeating strategic policies.
They stressed that an independent and multi-faceted foreign policy and a viable national security should essentially be defined by national interests that must give foremost priority to economic viability, human and physical security, national integrity, peace and regional and international cooperation.
Welcoming the joint session of parliament and its unanimous decision to appoint an independent commission through a bipartisan process, the participants opined that the commission should consist of the most credible and competent people and should thoroughly investigate into the immediate acts of omissions or commissions surrounding the “Operation Geronimo” and the sanctuaries and hideouts created by al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. They said the commission must consider all aspects of Pakistan’s current predicaments while critically reevaluating the foreign and security policies, relations with Afghanistan, India and other world powers, civil-military relations, threat of religious extremism and terrorism to the country’s existence and peace as well as correlation of economic sustainability and human security with military security.
The meeting took serious exception to the parallel centres of power in violation of the constitution and domination of the military garrison over the democratically elected government. They held that the military should not define the foreign and security policies of the nation that have brought a great harm to the nation.
The meeting also called for redefining Pakistan’s role as an enlightened, moderate and peace loving state, dedicated to the progress and prosperity of the people of all the federating units.
The participants underscored that Pakistan should be at peace with its neighbours while shedding the false notions of “strategic depth” in Afghanistan and continuing with the self-defeating confrontation with India without submitting to the latter’s hegemony. The meeting expressed serious concerns over the way a section of media tried to confuse and mislead the public opinion. The participants of the meeting demanded that all extremist elements and terrorist groups must be brought to book. They were of the view that the government should mobilise all national resources and forces to eradicate extremism and terrorism without any exception in all its forms and at all levels and through various means.
They held that nationhood and nation-state could not be built on extraterritorial and isolationist ideologies, nor could they be strengthened without keeping in view the social contract between citizens and the state and federation and its constituent units as defined by the constitution. pr
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk