DAILY LATEST NEWS UPDATE: 15.03.2012

Nato supply route: Parliament’s decision to be final

ISLAMABAD: Heads of parties in the ruling coalition and the chiefs of army, air force and the ISI agreed on Wednesday that a decision about military supplies to Nato/Isaf forces through Pakistan would be taken by parliament in its joint session likely to be held on March 19 after the presidential address on March 17.
The high-level meeting held in the Presidency was presided over by President Asif Ali Zardari. It was also attended by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.
“The meeting was briefed on issues relating to security and foreign policy,” president’s spokesman Farhatullah Babar said.
According to a senior official who did not want to be named, the meeting decided that the Parliamentary Committee on National Security would be fully authorised to take a decision about restoration or otherwise of the supplies for Isaf forces in Afghanistan. It is learnt that the committee would recommend to the government to secure ‘better’ terms for reopening the supply routes. It is expected that the government will restore the supplies, but after levying transportation charges on vehicles and goods.
The government suspended the supplies after the Nato attack on Salala checkpost in November last year in which 24 Pakistani soldiers lost their lives.
A one-to-one meeting on Wednesday between President Zardari and Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani decided that relations with the United States would be based on principles of sovereign equality.
The two meetings were held after the US government had announced that restoration of Nato supplies would be of benefit to Pakistan.
The meeting in the Presidency was attended by Chaudhry Pervaiz Ilahi, Mushahid Hussain Sayed, Asfandyar Wali Khan, Dr Farooq Sattar, Mir Israrullah Zehri, Munir Khan Orakzai, Engr Shaukatullah, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Air Chief Marshal Qamar Suleman, ISI Director General Lt-Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha, Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jillani and former foreign secretary Salman Bashir.
The parliamentary committee is reported to have prepared a series of recommendations on Pakistan-US relations and related issues, including Nato supplies, memo scandal and the issue of Balochistan and will present them at the joint sitting of the two houses of parliament.
The committee began its proceedings on December 2 with an advice from Prime Minister Gilani that ties with the United States were important for a peaceful settlement of the Afghan conflict, but needed recalibration in accordance with strategic interests.
PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS: According to an official announcement issued on Wednesday, the president summoned a joint session of the parliament on Saturday (March 17) at 11am. Farhatullah Babar said the president would address the joint session to mark the beginning of the new parliamentary year.

President Zardari convenes parliament’s joint session on March 17

ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has convened today joint session of the Parliament on March 17,

According to the spokesman of the Presidency, Farhatullah Babar the joint session of the Parliament will start at 11.00 AM; President Zardari will address to the parliamentarians at the beginning of new parliamentary year.

President Asif Ali Zardari carries a unique privilege that he had addressed four times to the joint session of the parliament and now on March 17, he will address fifth time to the joint session of the Parliament.

 

US, Pakistan exploring terms of engagement

WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan explore new terms of engagement as they contemplate various options for rebuilding a relationship which has deteriorated rapidly since January 2011.
“We will continue to engage where we even have legitimate concerns and disagreements,” US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in her address to the Global Chiefs of Mission Conference in Washington on Tuesday.
“I appreciate Secretary Clinton’s words of engaging despite differences,” said Pakistan’s Ambassador Sherry Rehman, when asked for comments on the secretary’s statement. “We hope to seek parliament’s views on the terms of re-engagement very soon.”
While Secretary Clinton focused on the need for staying engaged with Pakistan, Ambassador Rehman tried to downplay media reports that Islamabad and Washington had reached an agreement on drone strikes or on reopening Nato supply routes.
Known as the Ground Lines of Communication (GLOC), the routes bring supplies for US and Nato forces in Afghanistan via Torkham and Chaman borders. The GLOC carries nearly half the supplies of coalition forces in Afghanistan at one-tenth the cost of air supply.
“There is no question of anyone cutting a deal on anything behind Parliament’s back, whether it is drones or the GLOC.”
She said that in a series of recent meetings with US officials and lawmakers, Pakistan also stressed the need for discontinuing drone strikes because Islamabad believed that a large number of civilians were also killed in those attacks.
While the United States has indicated that it may agree to involve Pakistan in the decision making process, it is not willing to discontinue the drone strikes because it believes they have been very effective in eliminating key Al Qaeda leaders.
Instead, of settling the drone or GLOC issues first, Pakistan seems more interested in defining the future parameters of a bilateral relationship.
These were some of the issues that Secretary Clinton identified as “legitimate concerns and disagreements”.
Ambassador Rehman insisted that the review had to be completed before Pakistan and the US start sorting out the issues that divide them.
“All Pakistani principals are in lock-step on that. This is the new Pakistan and we work like all democracies, with full consultation and openness,” she said.

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MOHAMMED SALEEM MANSOORI