As expected the decision is coming out…

Pakistan has been holding out on resuming NATO’s supplies until an unconditional apology was given for the Salala attack. However, no one knows it would take us to change our minds after being refused an invitation to a NATO summit in Chicago.

The decision to allow the allied forces the use of the land route is a wise one, particularly the way in which it was handled, but it raised a lot of questions.

Since our demand for an apology was ultimately dropped, we have to ask ourselves what the immeasurable damage was done to ties with the US.

The incumbent has also ensured that the right wing parties will now make political hay by taking out larges street protest demonstrations against the resumption of NATO supplies, if we allowed the issue to fester for so long.

The NATO oil tankers had always been targeted by militants and the government only made them even bigger targets of attack by imbuing them with such symbolic significance.

Furthermore, the abrupt U-turn also reflects poorly on the government’s position with regard to the civil-military relationships; this is clearly a military-approved decision.

The representatives of powerful corridors were seen coming and going from the presidency on May 14, indicating that the restoration of supplies to allied forces battling in Afghanistan could only permitted with approval from establishment.

In a sign of where the true centre of power resides, the US and NATO conducted most of its meetings on the issue with the military officials. The recent decision has also proved that what the government considers the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS).

The parliamentary panel among many recommendations suggested supply-line only be resumed after negotiating a cessation of drone attacks with the US. However, it was not happened, indicating that the rest of parliament’s recommendations are also unlikely to be adopted.

At least in the end the right decision was made, no matter how convoluted the entire process was.

Pakistan will have to play ball with the US for now if it wants to have any stake in post-war Afghanistan. It is quite a wise decision that we should participate in the Chicago Summit than be cut out of the process altogether.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on May 16 2012. Filed under National, Opinion, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.