Youm-e-Dua on Friday: no compromise on nuclear programme: DCC

A meeting of the Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) on Tuesday decided that a work plan could be developed for effective implementation of the Parliamentary guidelines based on Pakistan's national interests.
The meeting presided over by Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and attended by Federal Ministers, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Services Chiefs and members of the DCC also offered prayers for the safety and well-being troops of Gayari sector avalanche incident in Siachen. The meeting decided to declare Friday, April 20, as Youm-e-Dua.
The DCC discussed the guidelines approved by the Parliament on April, 12 2012 with regard to Pakistan's foreign and security policies. It was decided that a work plan could be developed for an effective implementation of the Parliamentary guidelines based on Pakistan's national interests. The DCC reaffirmed that there would be no compromise on the country's nuclear programme and agreed that the government could pursue the aim of international civilian nuclear co-operation.
It was agreed that the Parliamentary review and oversight would not only give public ownership to country's foreign and security policies but those mechanisms would also help strengthen the hands of government in dealing with the international community on issues for greater national importance.
The DCC strongly condemned the recent terrorist attacks in Kabul and other Afghan cities and reaffirmed Pakistan's support for an Afghan-led and Afghan-owned inclusive peace and reconciliation process. In the opening statement, the Prime Minister said that the DCC's meeting convened to consider the recommendations of the Parliament finalised on Thursday, 12 April, 2012. The Parliamentary review process was an unprecedented development and marked a new milestone in Pakistan's progress along the path of democracy, the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister stated relations with the US/Nato/ISAF were put on hold until the Parliament took a clear position on how to proceed forward under the new terms of engagement. "In my view", the Prime Minister's said, parliamentary review and oversight would not only give public ownership to country's foreign and security policies but also help strengthen the hands of the government in dealing with the international community on issues of greater national importance.
Secondly, the exercise had given the nation a unique opportunity to set country's bilateral relationship with the United States right on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interest, the Prime Minister added. "The message from the Parliament - yes to partnership but not at the cost of our sovereignty - carefully calibrates the roadmap of the engagement, the Prime Minister maintained.
The Prime Minister said: "We now need to move beyond review." During the course of the concluding debate he assured the House that it would be his government's endeavour to implement the Parliament's recommendations with regard to country's foreign and security policies both in letter and spirit, he added. The Prime Minister stated the US-Pakistan bilateral relationship was an important one and "we must be mindful of our national interest and uphold our territorial integrity and national sovereignty."
For this, the Prime Minister said, a roadmap for re-engagement with the United States, negotiation of new terms and conditions for resumption of the Ground Lines of Communication (GLOCs), joint counter-terrorism co-operation, greater inter-agency co-ordination, transparency in US diplomatic and intelligence footprint in Pakistan, strengthening of border security and non-use of Pakistan's territory for attacks on other countries and expulsion of al foreign fighters from Pakistan's territory, were our fundamental policy parameters.