News
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Debate on Pak-US mistrust heading towards parliament* Government, opposition decide to activate parliamentary forums to adopt a united stand against latest developments in Pak-US relations
By Tanveer Ahmed
ISLAMABAD: Following the efforts to mobilise the political leadership of the country against the US allegations, the government and the opposition have decided to activate the parliamentary forums to adopt a united stand against the latest developments in Pak-US relations.
The relationship between Pakistan and the US has been tense over the issue of Haqqani network. Top US civil and military leadership have accused Pakistan of maintaining ties with the Haqqani network and fuelling a proxy war in Afghanistan.
After a flurry of activities on diplomatic and political fronts in Islamabad, the debate on the fresh mistrust between Pakistan and US is heading towards parliamentary corridors with Standing Committee of Senate on Defence to meet on Tuesday (today) in the Parliament House to discuss the issue.
“The committee will review the Pak-US relations in the face of new development in the recent days,” parliamentary sources said.
Another bigger parliamentary forum, the National Security Committee of Parliament, having the broader and across the board representation, has also been convened the next month focusing on developments in the bilateral relations of both the countries.
Apart from the parliamentary forums, the government is considering convening the National Assembly session though it is already scheduled to meet on October 3.
The largest opposition party in National Assembly, the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), has called for convening the joint session of parliament to discuss the issues.
PML-N Senator and its parliamentary leader in Upper House of the Parliament Ishaq Dar suggested Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to convene the joint sitting of parliament when he wrote a letter to Gilani on Monday.
In the letter released to the media, the PML-N leader pointed out that Pakistan is being made a scapegoat, as US could not produce any proof against ISI despite hurling the accusations against Pakistan.
Besides, the PML-N also submitted an adjournment motion in the National Assembly to discuss the strained relations between the Pakistan and US following the latest bout of allegations on Pakistan.
Also, an independent Senator from FATA, Abbas Khan Afridi, filed an adjournment motion in the Senate Secretariat against the latest US threats to Pakistan to discuss the issue in the next session of the Upper House.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk