KARACHI, March 29: Condemning the use of the US bases in certain Arab countries in the ongoing war in Iraq, political leaders have expressed concern over the presence of similar detachments on Pakistan’s soil. They demanded an immediate pullout of all the US detachments in the country.

Much before the US invasion of Iraq, the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal had publicly demanded that the facility provided to the US forces at Shahbaz airbase and other places in the country be withdrawn immediately.

In the side-line conversation with some of the leaders of various political parties, during the recent round table conference on the Iraq crisis and its fallout on Pakistan, they expressed the fear that these facilities might be used in some way to facilitate ‘the unauthorized military operations’ in the Middle East region.

Mamnoon Hussain of the PML(N) maintained that after what the US-led coalition had done in Afghanistan so far and the FBI’s activities, after it was given a carte blanche to do whatever it wanted against Pakistanis within Pakistani territory, the government had to be extremely careful as it was answerable to the parliament.

Some of the leaders even raised the question: “Under what agreement the US troops are based in Pakistan and the FBI operators are active here?” They insisted that the government must answer this question on the floor of the House.

Secretary General of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaaf Mairaj Mohammed Khan expressed the fear that in the event of any threat to Pakistan’s security, “these facilities are bound to undermine our capability, of course to the advantage of our enemy with whom Washington is forging a deeper strategic understanding and has accepted its hegemonic designs.”

He maintained that after flouting the UN Charter in the case of Iraq, the US and its allies had no locus standi in Afghanistan and there was no justification for their presence in Pakistan. He was of the view that presence of the US detachments might be necessary for the security of the ruling clique which was serving their interest, but would not be helpful in defending the country’s territorial integrity.

Mr Khan emphasized the need for learning lessons from the Iraq war and said that attempts should be made to forge a new world order based on the collective interests of the potential European countries (i.e. France and Germany), the Arab states and those Muslim countries who were opposed to the Washington’s long term uni-polar hegemonic world order.

He felt that had these major European countries withdrawn their support to the US initiatives and put their feet down over Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians much earlier, the US perhaps might not have embarked on this barbaric course and endangered world peace.

He believed that the German and French opposition to the US-led military action against Iraq was also due to the perception that Washington’s military success there would also endanger the emergence of Europe as a countervailing force against the US brute economic and military power.

He hoped the Arab rulers, who gave priority to US interests over those of their own people, would some come to realize the potential of their resources and wealth accumulated in the western banks and financial institutions.

The Information Secretary of the Pakistan People’s Party, Taj Haider, felt that the best and effective long term strategy would be to link investment and trade with support on the key issues affecting them.

He predicted that the people of the countries, where the US troops were at present enjoying hospitality, would eventually force their rulers to bid farewell to the warmongers. However, he conceded that it might not happen without a long drawn struggle and creation of new entities.

He regretted that the European Union, being the largest trading bloc in the world, did not play its due role effectively in addressing the current problems in the Middle East and Asia.

In the context of Pakistan, he advised the government to strengthen its economic, military and political cooperation with China for an enduring peace in the region and create understanding with Russia on the one hand, and with Germany and France, in collaboration with some Arab countries, on the other, as was envisage during Charles De Gaulle’s tenure.