Show of unity Saturday, 01 October 2011 02:49

It was a rare show of unity in Pakistan. Leaders of about 50 political groups and parties, Pakistani army chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and  intelligence chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Shuja Pasha gathered at Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani’s invitation in a rare all-party conference to forge unity and to discuss US charges that the country is abetting insurgents in Afghanistan. “The Pakistani nation affirms its full solidarity and support for the armed forces of Pakistan in defeating any threat to national security,” a resolution adopted unanimously said.

The Pakistan-US alliance in the 10-year war in Afghanistan and against Al Qaeda hit rock bottom this year after the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden near Islamabad on May 2. Pakistan’s relationship with the US has seen a series of crises this year, beginning with January’s killing of two Pakistanis by a CIA contractor in Lahore. Washington has also accused Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency of involvement in the September 13 attack on its embassy in Kabul.  The war of words started when US Admiral Mike Mullen, who retired recently as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said that the Haqqani Taliban faction, which the US blames for the embassy strike, “acts as a veritable arm” of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate in fighting a “proxy war” against US troops in Afghanistan.

Islamabad is reluctant to go after the Haqqanis — even though the United States provides billions of dollars in aid — saying its troops are stretched fighting Taliban insurgents. Pakistan says it has sacrificed more lives than any of the countries that joined the “war on terror” after the September 11 attacks by militants on the United States in 2001. More than 35,000 Pakistanis have been killed in terrorist attacks since 2006 as Taliban militants retaliate against military offensives in the northwest, according to the government.

Closing ranks against increasing US pressure for action, Prime Minister Gilani said: “Pakistan cannot be pressurised to do more. Our national interests should be respected. Our doors are open for dialogue.” Washington too appeared to tread more carefully on Pakistan, with White House spokesman Jay Carney saying he would not have used the same language as Mullen did, and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton saying the countries have to “work together”. Support is growing in the US Congress for expanding military action in Pakistan beyond the drone strikes that already target militants in Pakistani territory. Any unilateral US military action would deepen anti-American sentiment which already runs high in Pakistan. The Pakistan army, not the elected government, controls Afghan policy and will ultimately decide the future course of action on the issue.