July 4, 2003	Friday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 3,1424

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ISLAMABAD, July 3: The Pakistan People’s Party (PPP) has criticized the government’s decision of sending troops to Iraq without consulting the parliament or national institutions.

“It is wrong of President Gen Pervez Musharraf to announce sending troops to Iraq without consulting the prime minister, cabinet, parliament or the National Security Council,” a PPP spokesman in a statement issued here on Thursday said.

The spokesperson noted that Pakistan played a vanguard role in peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia and Somalia. It was also aware that Washington made a similar offer to India to send troops to Iraq.

“However, since the US went into Iraq without the sanction of the United Nations, it would have been appropriate for Islamabad to take a decision after necessary debate and discussion weighing what would be gained and what would be lost,” he maintained.

The spokesperson said that it would have been a prudent decision for the solidarity in South Asia that other countries of the region were also taken into confidence.

“Unfortunately Gen Musharraf was not trained in politics and foreign policy and his fondness for one upmanship resulted in erratic decisions without the necessary consensus and detrimental to the national interest.”

The PPP spokesperson noted that the commando style go it alone of the general had alienated Pakistan’s friends and well wishers as well as made a mockery of the parliament and the cabinet.

The PPP statement quoting the spokesperson noted that both Iran and UAE had both signed defence pacts with New Delhi. Indian leaders had visited China in a high profile visit and the Indian government was closer to Karzai government in Kabul than Islamabad. The growing international isolation of Pakistan in its own neighbourhood was detrimental to the well being of the country.

The isolation was the dismal failure of the government which could see no further and do no better than chasing and hounding political opponents, the spokesman said.

The spokesperson said that to announce the decision of sending troops to Baghdad on a foreign television channel was insulting to the people of Pakistan and their elected representatives.

The people of Pakistan wanted to see tangible benefits for actions taken. So far the Musharraf regime had ended up with “peanuts fit for monkeys”.

While the general tried to butter up President Bush, the rest of the Pakistani Nation was being finger printed and had mug shots taken because Musharraf had damaged the image of Islamabad in the rest of the world by marginalizing moderate forces, he said.

The spokesperson said that very little due diligence was done on the issue of studying the cost benefit ratio of sending troops to Baghdad.

For example, people of the country wanted to know what other Muslim countries like key US allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia were doing on the issue as well as what New Delhi was thinking which had also been asked for the troops.

The PPP protested the decision to send troops to Iraq without a parliamentary debate and in the absence of a national consensus, the spokesperson said.