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ISLAMABAD: Efforts of the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) to work out a consensus report on new terms of engagements with the US suffered another setback on Thursday when the JUI-F chief stayed away from its meeting, DawnNews reported.
The absence of Jamiat-i-Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F) chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman prevented the committee from making any headway in its work to redraft its recommendations on the basis of the guidelines set by the top civilian-military leadership at a consultative meeting last week.
Maulana, while opposing the conditional reopening of Nato supplies, walked out of the meeting in protest.
The JUI-F chief reiterated his stance later to the media representatives and said that his party will oppose ‘conditional’ or ‘unconditional’ reopening of the supplies route.
However, the overall ‘atmosphere’ became pleasant amid Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Sardar Mehtab Abbasi’s presence in the meeting.
The PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif on Wednesday was swayed by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to end boycotting the PCNS meetings.
He assured Sharif that all reservations of his party over recommendations of the parliamentary committee will be removed.
Senator Raza Rabbani, the committee head, while speaking to media representatives after today’s meeting said that nothing can intimidate the committee or the parliament. “We will proceed by keeping national priorities superior,” he added.
The PPP senator further said that the US has got its timings wrong for raising the Hafiz Saeed issue now.
Meanwhile, Abbasi warned the US by saying that reopening Nato supplies was not an “easy job.” “If drone attacks are not stopped…then the resumption of supply route to its (US) forces in Afghanistan will be difficult for us,” the PML-N leader added.
