Pakistan to evaluate all options after NATO attack: PM
ISLAMABAD, Nov 29 (APP): Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani said Pakistan will evaluate all options after violation of mechanism of working by NATO with the attack on security forces in Mohmand agency. In an interview with a private television aired on Tuesday, he said Pakistan will revisit engagement with NATO and International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in the backdrop of Mohmand Agency incident. Pakistan has told the US administration that incident of Mohmand agency will not be acceptable, he added. Gilani said he will take the parliament and leadership of the country into confidence to reach at decisions. The strategy of the government will be brought before the parliament so that the leadership can arrive at a consensus, he added.
 He said Pakistan has asked the US for vacation of the Shamsi airbase in two weeks and stopped the NATO supplies.
 Reports about any other base are just speculation, he added.
 He said under an understanding, the US were obligated to inform Pakistan about any operation in its territory, 72 hours in advance but that is violated.
 He said the government will follow the resolution of parliament and All Parties Conference (APC) on relations with US.
 The Prime Minister said civilian and military leadership are on the same page on national issues.
 After the Abbottabad incident, all the services chiefs and ISI briefed the joint sitting of the parliament and answered queries of parliamentarians, he recalled.
 He said the Parliament’s Committee on National Security has been assigned to probe the memorandum issue and the nation will know the truth about the matter as promised by the government.
 He said the matter would be fairly investigated by the parliamentary committee consisting of members of political parties in both the houses.
 About the appointment of Sherry Rehman as ambassador to the United States, he said first it was the decision of party and later his own.
 He said Taliban should decommission and denounce violence and then the government would be ready to talk to them to bring them into the mainstream.
 The Prime Minister said the government would continue to pursue its policy of dialogue, development and deterrence.
 “However if somebody will challenge the writ of government it will not be accepted,” he added.
 To a question about the statement of Defence Minister Ahmed Mukhtar on memo issue, he said the Defence Minister was right that the Prime Minister would be responsible as the chief executive of country.
 He said he summoned Husain Haqqani and asked him to submit resignation.
The Prime Minister said he also committed that a credible probe would be done and all facts would be brought before the nation.
 The Parliament’s Committee on National Security is a credible forum which will thoroughly investigate the memo issue as mandated by the government, he said adding the committee will talk to everybody and will probe everything.
 “We have to see the credibility of memo and I will not jump to the conclusion,” he remarked.
 He said 80 percent of Aghaz-e-Haqooq Balochistan package has been implemented and 27 resolutions of the Balochistan Assembly have also been implemented.
 He said the government is reviewing the demand by the Balochistan government that Frontier Constabulary should work under Chief Minister Balochistan.The Prime Minister informed that he would convene a meeting of federal agencies and provincial departments to take stock of the law and order situation in Balochistan and form a strategy to stop target killings in the province.
 He mentioned that he himself, Balochistan Chief Minister and Interior Minister talked to the estranged leaders of Balochistan and there are nationalist parties who wanted to cooperate and there are those who are toeing another agenda.
 “We want to talk to everybody and we are moving in the right direction.”
 After the PPP Government took over, he said, it withdrew politically motivated cases and freed Baloch leadership to bring them into national fold.
 He said issues regarding National Finance Commission Award, provincial autonomy and royalties of the province are resolved.
 To a question, the Prime Minister said Pakistan will continue to support the peace and reconciliation process which is Afghan-led and Afghan-owned.
 Pakistan wants stable, peaceful, independent and prosperous Afghanistan, he said adding when Prof Burhanuddin Rabbani was killed, he rushed to Kabul and met his family and Afghan President Hamid Karzai and offered condolences.
 Gilani said Prof Burhannudin Rabbani was a noble person and friend of Pakistan.
Rabbani wanted to work with Pakistan and made great contribution to the work of Afghanistan’s High Peace Council and his death affected the peace process in his country, he observed.
 The Prime Minister said Pakistan is extending full cooperation in the probe into the death of the Afghan leader.
 The Prime Minister said Pakistan suffered the most in the war against terror and 30000 of its people were killed and 5000 troops lost their lives and equal number of them were injured.
 “Our economy was damaged. There is no second opinion about the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan.”
 He denied that his government ever took the decision to send ISI chief to India after the Mumbai attacks.
 However, he said there is no harm in intelligence cooperation with other countries.
 Gilani also clarified that it was his own decision to restore judges and it was not done after receiving a telephone call.
 To a question about departure of Shah Mehmood Qureshi from Pakistan Peoples Party, Gilani said PPP is an ideological federal party with a history and vision and its leadership has given sacrifices for people of Pakistan and for restoration of democracy and original constitution.
 Coming and going of an individual does not matter as the strength of the party and its ideology is intact, Gilani said adding many stalwarts left the party in the past but the party remained united and even today the PPP is in power.
 When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto was hanged the entire Central Executive Committee left PPP, then Benazir Bhutto came and she strengthened the party, Gilani recollected adding it was thought that the party will break up, but that did not happen.
 He said PPP and the MQM have total understanding on national issues and they will continue to cooperate for the sake of democracy and federation.
 Gilani said next elections will show where PPP stands. It has won elections in Azad Kashmir, Gilgit Baltistan and bye elections.  PPP and PML-Q won a recent bye-election in Bahawalpur.
 While pursuing politics of reconciliation, PPP and its coalition partners have two-thirds majority in the National Assembly and its mandate should be respected, he added.
 The Prime Minister said this time around PPP has come up as a pro-establishment party while in the past it was always on the wrong side of the establishment.
 “We don’t want to waste our time and spend it on development and security of the country. We are taking forward our programme and they (establishment) are pro-democracy and it is wrong to give any other impression.”