ISLAMABAD – Troika on Saturday discussed the forthcoming Pak-US Strategic dialogue, to be held in Washington next week, in the light of the growing American pressure on Pakistan to go for a hot pursuit against the militants in North Waziristan.
It also discussed the military and financial assistance direly needed by Pak Army to effectively continue its operations against militants.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani and Chief of Army Staff Ashfaq Parvez Kayani were also briefed by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi on his recent visit to Brussels where he had attended the Friends of Democratic Pakistan meeting. Meanwhile, the Finance Minister briefed the meeting on his recent visit to America and his meetings with the officials of World Bank, IMF and US officials.
Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar, Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir and the Finance Secretary Salman Siddique also attended the meeting.
Sources privy to the deliberations informed TheNation that though the meeting was purely about the upcoming Pak-US Strategic Dialogue, to be held in Washington from October 22, the standoff between the superior judiciary and Government did figure in the meeting. It was the consensus view that at this critical juncture, the country could not afford any adventurism on part of any department and it was stressed that all the state organs must work within their defined constitutional ambit, they added.
The political leadership had also expressed their resolve to respect the apex judiciary and would comply with its orders in true letter and spirit as repeatedly said by the Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani in the recent past.
Sources privy to the deliberations of the meeting, which continued till late in the evening, said that it was the consensus view of the political and military leadership that Pakistan would continue operation against militants but would not take any pressure from any quarter for launching operation in some particular area.
It was further decided that the Government would continue operation against militants keeping in view the ground realities and its capacity to handle the operation in certain area. It would try to convince United States and other partners in the war on terror that they would define the scope and strategy of the hot pursuit against militants keeping in view the ground reality and the potential of the Armed Forces.
It was further agreed in the meeting that Pakistani side would press the United States to help Pakistan Army manage its military and other needs and would, once again, take up the issue of drone technology transfer so that it could launch operation against militants on its own. With the transfer of technology the Pakistan Army would launch operation against the militants in the troubled areas and the criticism on Pakistan due to drone attacks by US would also ease down, sources added.
Meanwhile, in a media brief, Spokesperson to the President, former senator Farhatullah Babar said that the meeting was held to deliberate upon the forthcoming Pak-US Strategic Dialogue.
He said that the last round of Pak-US Strategic Dialogue was held in Islamabad in July last to intensify strategic engagement and pursue comprehensive sectoral cooperation under the framework of strategic dialogue process. It may be recalled that various areas of mutual cooperation that included security, defence, socio-economic projects, enhancement of power generation capacity and infrastructure were thoroughly deliberated during the sectoral meetings in the last round of the Dialogue.
The Spokesperson said that the democratic Government wanted to pursue multifaceted comprehensive cooperation between the two countries while at the same time address issues like drone attacks, reimbursement of Coalition Support Fund arrears and RoZ legislation. He said that the challenges being faced by the two countries vis-a-vis the security situation would also come under discussion. The two states would also discuss measures to further promote the intelligence sharing mechanism and the capacity enhancement of the security forces.
The President has all along maintained that Pakistan had suffered a colossal loss, both in human and the material losses, due to the ongoing fight against militancy and the recent devastating floods had further added to the economic woes.
He said that the situation demanded of the international community especially the US to support Pakistan and advocate its case for having greater access to its products in the international markets.
The President said that he had been urging upon US visitors to use their influence in expediting ROZs legislation and for helping Pakistan in creating new vistas of opportunities for the affected people.
The President expressed hope that discussions during the forthcoming dialogue would be productive and help carry forward the progress made so far in the mutually agreed areas of cooperation and where Pakistan needed more help from the United States.