ISLAMABAD: PM Gilani holds rare cross-party talks on Thursday designed to build unity in the face of mounting American pressure to act against Haqqani network.
Unease has been growing in Pakistan over the US demands to act against the Haqqanis but Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani is expected to use the conference to try to rally support behind the government and military rather than formulate new strategies.
Gilani's office said the conference would adopt a "joint stand on national security".
Members of Gilani's coalition, the opposition and the main religious parties are expected to attend the Thursday afternoon talks. Civilian politicians will likely fall into line behind the military, considered the chief arbiter of power in Pakistan.
Top party leaders, including opposition leader Nawaz Sharif and heads of Islamic parties such as cleric Fazlur Rehman have signalled that they will be there.
"All the political parties will plan a road map for the future and government will ensure implementation of this strategy," said Information Minister Firdous Ashiq Awan.
Gilani's main ruling Pakistan People's Party (PPP), which leads a precarious majority in parliament, faces strong domestic criticism for supporting the United States in its war on terror and providing logistical support.
Retired general turned political analyst Talat Masood told AFP that the government and the military want to defuse the latest crisis.
"The gathering is intended to send a strong signal from the country's political parties that they stand united behind the military in the wake of US pressures," he said.
"The conference will serve as political catharsis to let passions cool off."
Qazi Hussain Ahmed, a senior leader in the religious Jamaat-e-Islami party told a gathering on the Afghan border that Pakistan should quit the alliance.
Copyright AFP (Agence France-Presse), 2011
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