ISLAMABAD: Former prime minister Nawaz Sharif was sitting hundreds of miles away from parliament on Friday but he forced the government to commit to an independent commission to probe the May 2 operation in Abbottabad after a debate of more than 10 hours.
The PML-N leader spoke to his party leaders Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan and Ishaq Dar about a dozen times on the phone from his Raiwind residence during the parliamentary session.
The government was reluctant to accept an independent commission because the Pakistan Army had announced to start a probe in this regard but Nawaz Sharif had already rejected the Army probe on Wednesday.
Nawaz also forced the government to include some other very important points — the most important about the drone attacks.
He asked his party to say yes to the resolution only if the government also commits to cut off Nato supply lines in case of another drone attack. He even dictated commas and full stops in the resolution, which was ultimately adopted in the joint sitting of the two houses in the early hours of Saturday.
This resolution not only condemned the unilateral action of US on May 2 but also called upon the government to revisit and review its terms of engagements with the US.
A top European diplomat in Islamabad commented that this resolution had created the worst ever problem between Pakistan and the US in the last 64 years.
The unexpected unanimous resolution adopted by the joint session has created panic in the diplomatic circles of Islamabad. All the important world capitals have asked their diplomats in Islamabad to send immediate assessment reports about the worst stand-off between the US and Pakistan.
Many diplomats were interested to know what would happen in case of another US drone attack in Pakistan. Will the Pakistani government immediately cut off the Nato supply line?
Most of the diplomats were sure that this time Pakistani high-ups were serious in cutting Nato supply lines because the government and armed forces need to restore their credibility in the eyes of Pakistanis.
It is learnt that many Western diplomats have reported to their capitals that the Pakistani parliament has finally given full support to their armed forces after a very long debate and the ISI is no more isolated.
The ISI chief faced some very tough questions in the first three hours of the session but later on senior PML-N leaders Javed Hashmi, Saad Rafique and Ishaq Dar made it clear in their speeches that they were asking questions with good intention not with any malice.
Javed Hashmi said parliament is like your mother, we have the right to ask questions from you but we will not allow any outsider to malign you. It was the first time in the last 64 years that the ISI chief presented himself before the parliament for accountability.
PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif made some hard-hitting remarks against the role of the intelligence agencies in politics on Saturday afternoon but he said clearly that he is not against the Army. He is against interference of the Army in politics.
PPP minister Firdous Ashiq Awan tried to exploit the remarks of Nawaz Sharif but she failed. Many members of parliament noticed that the PPP was trying to create tension between the Army leadership and PML-N during the session.
Fata MNA Munir Orakzai remembered that PPP MNA Fauzia Wahab was instigating some PML-Q members to raise slogans when Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan was asking questions from the ISI DG.
Despite all this, a majority of the members were happy that they had reached a consensus. Unanimity between the PPP and PML-N on the resolution was a surprise for many diplomats who were expecting a big fight between the two parties during the session.
Now the big question is when the government will start consultations with the PML-N for the creation of an independent commission. Sources close to the prime minister quoted him as saying: “We cannot back off, we have promised to the whole nation and we will start the process very soon.”
A diplomat met a federal minister at his official residence here in Islamabad quietly on Saturday and asked as to how serious the government is to withdraw the transit facility allowed to Nato/Isaf forces. The minister replied that all the parties are heading for a new election very soon, so we cannot afford to play old political gimmicks with our voters; if we will not take action against Nato and the US, our voters will take action against us by voting for religious parties.
“Please ask the US to stop drone attacks otherwise we will be destroyed here and you will be destroyed in Afghanistan,” the minister told the diplomat.