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ISLAMABAD: The year 2011 witnessed a major shift in relationship between Pakistan and the United States, as the allies in the global war against terror came to a point of rewriting their bilateral terms of engagement.
Following a spate of events starting from the arrest and subsequent release of a CIA operative Raymond Davis in Lahore, to the attack by the US Navy Seals in Abbottabad to eliminate Osama bin Laden and finally the attack on the Pakistani military post at Salala that killed 24 personnel; the relationship took a clear new direction.
The events not only enraged Pakistan but also strained Pakistan-US ties to almost a breaking point. As a reaction, Pakistan not only cut off the vital supply to the US troops deployed in Afghanistan, and boycotted the Bonn Conference on the future of its war-torn neighbour, but also asked the CIA to pack up and leave the Shamsi Air Base in Balochistan, allegedly used for the covert drone programme.
The Foreign Office summing up the status admitted “many ups and downs” in the Pakistan-US relations and pointed “things have come to a point where it is necessary to rewrite our bilateral terms of engagement.”
“This will be good for both our countries as policies based on realistic and shared objectives would be far more tenable than a relationship facing frequent strains because of opaqueness and unilateral actions,” a Foreign Office spokesman said.
“We want our relations with the US to be based on mutual respect, mutual trust and mutual interest,” Spokesperson Abdul Basit said.
He, however, dismissed the notion that the ties between the two had severed and said Pakistan was on speaking terms with the US.
“Doubtless there are problems but we are trying to put our relations on a track that is transparent and in sync with our aspirations.”
To define new terms of engagement, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani mandated the Parliamentary Committee on National Security to formulate recommendations regarding the terms of Pakistan's engagements with the US, which would be submitted to a joint session of parliament.
He said Pakistan would reassess its arrangements with the Nato-led forces in Afghanistan, and its counter-terror cooperation with the United States could not continue without mutual respect.
The visible sign of Pakistan's anger against the Nato and Isaf attack and violation of its sovereignty was its decision to boycott the Bonn Conference.
“How can we attend the conference when our sovereignty came under attack,” said Gilani and pointed out that the soil of Afghanistan was used against the sovereignty and integrity of Pakistan.
A White House spokesman urged Pakistan to participate in the conference and termed it very important for the future of Afghanistan. “Pakistan, obviously, will play an important role in the future of Afghanistan,” the spokesman said.
However, an adamant Gilani termed the decision of staying away from the Bonn Conference as a well thought and considered decision that had the endorsement of Federal Cabinet.
Gilani attributed the decision not to attend the conference as in line with national honour, self-respect and dignity.
He said Pakistan can work with the United States, Nato and Isaf under a new agreement and by devising new rules of engagement.
“We have to formulate new rules of engagement and we can work under a new agreement.”
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar forwarded the recommendations of the country's top envoys to the parliamentary committee.
Khar said future relations with the US would be “clear, not confusing.” The 'war against terrorism' cannot be won alone, Khar warned.
The strong stance adopted by the nascent democracy in the country was in stark contrast to the past, when merely a single telephone call forced Pakistan to take a U-turn.
It was sheer strength and supremacy of the Parliament that the CIA team had to vacate the Shamsi Air Base in the Washak district of Balochistan, following the demand of Defence Committee of the Cabinet.
The decision followed the killing of 24 and injuring of 13 of its officers and men, in an early morning unprovoked attack by the Nato troops on November 26 on two Pakistani Army border posts in Mohmand Agency, along the Pak-Afghan border.
A Nato fact-finding investigation report into the 25-26 November 2011 claimed that the combined international and Afghan force was initially fired upon by unidentified forces, and legitimately responded in self-defence.
Pakistan's military, however, rejected the initial findings. Backed by 180 million people of the country, the democratic government followed a process before taking decisions of far reaching importance on the terms of engagement in the war against terror.
Gilani in a meeting with Chief of the Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani categorically stated “the democratic government will not allow similar attacks on the country's sovereignty and any attempt in the future will definitely be met with a detrimental response.
