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ISLAMABAD: After sulking for three days, the PML-N agreed on Wednesday to return to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security which is redrafting its earlier recommendations on new terms of engagement with the US.
The PML-N, which has been boycotting the PCNS meetings in protest against the recent hike in prices of oil and gas, decided to end its boycott after Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani telephoned PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and asked him to be part of the committee tasked to enumerate terms which would be followed by the government in its working with the US and Nato forces fighting in Afghanistan.
The prime minister called the PML-N president soon after the latter’s return to Lahore from Dubai and hours after the 13-member PCNS failed to make any progress in its work because of the boycott of its meetings by PML-N’s representatives Senator Ishaq Dar and MNA Mehtab Ahmed Khan Abbasi.
Talking to reporters soon after the meeting, the committee’s chairman Raza Rabbani expressed displeasure over the continuing PML-N boycott and urged it to attend the meeting.
PML-N deputy secretary information Khurram Dastagir confirmed the outcome of the conversation between Mr Gilani and Mr Sharif and said his party’s lawmakers would now attend the PCNS meeting.
People watching the development closely told Dawn that the PML-N was facing pressure both from the US and the military to help the PCNS reach a consensus and resolve the issue of Nato supply.
On March 30, US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter had called on Mr Sharif at the Punjab House in Islamabad after the latter had presided over a consultative meeting of his party on the issue of Nato supplies. It is learnt that the US ambassador urged the PML-N chief to help the government in preparing ground for reopening the Nato supply routes.
A source in the PML-N said that although it was a difficult task the party would need something in return as a face-saving compromise.
“During the meeting Nawaz Sharif appeared to be melting, although he didn’t assure Mr Munter of his party’s all-out support,” he said.
A day before the high-level consultative meeting on March 29, the military leadership had urged Leader of the Opposition Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan to be part of the political process which the government had initiated for forging an agreement among political parties for reopening Nato supply lines.
A senior government official said the army wants ‘us’ to speedily resolve the issue.
That the prime minister called Mr Sharif was significant because the joint session of the two houses of parliament will resume its proceedings after a five-day recess on Thursday.
Amjad Mahmood adds from Lahore: The prime minister assured the PML-N chief that his party’s suggestions would be accommodated in the parliamentary committee’s recommendations.
A PML-N office-bearer told Dawn that the prime minister asked Mr Sharif that any further delay in preparing a unanimous draft by the PCNS on the Nato supply issue could create problems for the country.
He said the prime minister’s assurance suggested that the government was mentally prepared to reopen Nato supply.
He said Ishaq Dar and Mehtab Abbasi would meet in Islamabad on Thursday to devise a strategy before joining the committee’s meeting.
