ISLAMABAD: The Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) redrafting its recommendations for new terms of engagement with the US suffered a setback on Friday when JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman announced that he would no more attend its proceedings.
He even suggested that the “government has already decided to restore Nato supplies and the committee has been asked merely to rubber-stamp the decision”.
The committee’s meeting scheduled for the day was put off till Monday.
Pakistan blocked Nato supply routes soon after Nato/Isaf forces attacked Pakistani checkposts in Mohamand Agency in November last year, leaving 24 soldiers dead.
Maulana Fazlur Rahman told reporters his party would not be used to approve decisions which had already been taken by others.
He warned that reopening the Nato supply route, with or without any condition, would be opposed at every forum. He said he would also not attend the parliament’s session over the domestic violence bill. Meanwhile, Leader of Opposition in the National Assembly Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan of PML-N said his party would never allow restoration of usual relations with the US and Nato and would oppose resumption of Nato supplies.
Talking to journalists, Chaudhry Nisar also threatened to quit his office if the supply routes were reopened.
The PML-N boycotted the committee’s meeting for three days and one of its representatives, Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan, returned on Thursday when Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani requested Mian Nawaz Sharif to end the boycott.
Chaudhry Nisar said he had made his stance clear to his party and leaders of other opposition parties on the issue of Nato supplies.
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