PCNS proposals: Fazl vows to resist Nato supply resumption

ALI HUSSAIN

ISLAMABAD: As the mystery continues to shroud resumption of Nato supply, Maulana Fazl-ur-Rehman, chief of his own faction of Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), on Friday dispelled the impression that the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) has allowed the reopening of Nato supply routes. Instead, he warned that any such move would be ‘physically’ resisted.

At a hurriedly-called press conference, the JUI-F chief clarified that all previous accords with the US, including the one for the supplies to Afghanistan, had ended after the adoption of the PCNS recommendations on Thursday.

He categorically said that the committee had not left the matter of resuming Nato supplies to the executive, adding that the government could neither take a decision on administrative grounds nor could it be allowed to take any such decision.

“If any such decision is taken, we will resist it with full force and stop such a move on the ground,” the JUI-F chief warned, adding the government would be responsible for the consequences. 

He said that the Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) and his party were on the same page on the issue and both were opposed to the reopening of the supply line.

When asked why he felt the need to clarify when it was supposed to be done by the government, he said that the government should also clarify that it was not going to restore Nato supplies.

When asked why the committee’s recommendations were not categorical in saying that the Nato supply shall not be reopened, the JUI-F chief agreed that there might have been some forces who wanted to exploit the confusing situation.

Commenting on a recommendation that said ‘Pakistani territory, including its air space, shall not be used for the transportation of arms and ammunition to Afghanistan’, he said that it had been incorporated because if efforts for reconciliation were under way in Afghanistan, there was no need for the arms supply. He argued that the clause did not mean that supplies other than arms would be allowed.  

Answering a question, he said that the Nato supply through Pakistan’s airspace had now also been blocked.

He opined that Pakistan was no more a strategic partner of the US after the passage of the recommendations. All agreements, under which Pakistan was an ally of the US, either verbal or written had ended, he said.

About drone strikes, the JUI-F chief said that after parliament’s clear-cut recommendation to stop drone attacks, it was now the responsibility of the government and the prime minister to ensure that Pakistan’s sovereignty was not violated.