Pakistan's
former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif prays with the
mother of
Major Mujahid Ali Meerani, who was
killed in a cross-border NATO attack
last month, atSharif's residence in Naudero, Sindh province, Dec. 10.
The Nation, Pakistan
NATO Attack Should
Spell the End of Friendly Relations
"Pakistan
must reconsider - in its entirety - the alliance with the United States. Being
an ally has proved to be no protection against unprovoked attack. It is
therefore only logical for Pakistan to stop being part of America's war on
terror."
One among many in Pakistan burning American flags today, after a deadly NATO helicopter attack on a check point near the Afghanistan border killed 24 Pakistan troops, Nov. 29.
On Thursday, Director General
of Military Operations [Ashfaq Nadeem, the DGMO] told the Senate Standing Committee on Defence that he believed NATO's November 26 attack on the
Salalah checkpost, which killed 24 soldiers, was
deliberate. This coincided with the statement of Pakistan Muslim League President
MianNawaz Sharif, who said that without an apology, there
could be no restoration of NATO supply lines. This only added strength to the
comment by Jamaat-e-Islami President Syed Manawa Hassan that
restoring NATO supply lines, even after an apology, would violate that nation's
aspirations. Sharif called for the apology before reporters on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Committee on National Security sent for the
details of every agreement made with NATO and the United States.
The statements indicate that in
certain circles, an apology would be considered sufficient - even though the DGMO asserted that NATO has a poor record of investigating
such incidents, which was why Pakistan refused to be part of the investigation
in the first place. Although not part of the investigation, the opinion of the DGMO cannot be easily refuted, even by someone within the NATO
investigation. That goes for MianNawaz
and all others in Pakistan.
If the government has indeed
decided to implement its various resolutions calling for a review of relations
with the United States, it shouldn't be so easily fobbed off with apology. He [DGMO Ashfaq Nadeem] claimed that
the attack came because such resolutions had been ignored. If the attack was
deliberate, as the DGMO asserted, it reflects a
belief that Pakistan will continue to obey if a face-saving apology is offered.
That unhappy precedent was created last year after another attack, NATO
supplies were suspended and then restored after the issuance of an apology.
Posted by WORLDMEETS.US
For both sides, there is only
one solution to this dilemma: Pakistan must reconsider - in its entirety - the
alliance with the United States. Being an ally has proved to be no protection
against unprovoked attack. It is therefore only logical for Pakistan to stop
being part of America's war on terror. The government may have certain
compulsions for keeping an alliance it assumes maintains it in office. But if
the price for that is NATO helicopters shooting down Pakistani troops which
results in simply apologies, then the game isn't worth the prize. The
government must put the national interest above merely partisan ones.
