PCNS redrafts proposals

ISLAMABAD - The Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) has redrafted the proposals for overall foreign policy review sans Jamiat-e-Ulama-e-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), which continued with its boycott of the committee’s deliberations.The committee has now proposed in the fresh draft to link the Nato supplies resumption via Pakistan with the cessation to drone attacks, while it is also recommended that the Nato should be barred to transport weapons via Pakistan and only food items, medicines and other items of general use be allowed through these routes.Now, the members of the committee are going present the redrafted proposals to their leadership and the same will be tabled before the joint sitting of the Parliament after their approval, which is in session since March 20 for final approval.Parliamentary sources informed TheNation that Sardar Mehtab Ahmad Khan Abbasi, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) representative in the committee, would discuss the new draft with his party leader Mian Nawaz Sharif for his reflection on the document. Sources further say Nawaz will arrive in the federal capital today (Wednesday) for the purpose, as the party leadership is going to look into the fresh recommendations redrafted in the light of the reservations mainly raised on the earlier draft by them.Similarly, a member of the committee belonging to the ruling alliance said the latest draft was also sent to JUI-F leader Maulana Fazlur Rehman who refused to join the committee’s proceedings after the ugly episode of some NGO ladies barging into the committee room where the National Assembly committee was reviewing the Domestic Violence Bill in the light of the JUI-F objections and raised slogans against him for preventing passage of the bill from the Parliament. Sources in JUI-F said Fazl was unlikely to give his opinion on the fresh draft of the committee and would prefer to speak on these recommendations on the floor of the Parliament.  These sources said the JUI-F would not support the restoration of the Nato supplies at any cost and even during the meeting of US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter with Fazl in Islamabad on Tuesday the latter had not given any sort of assurance to former on his party’s support on the issue.Sources aware of the discussions in the committee meetings over the past couple of weeks or so - which had seen a lot of jerks and jolts as PML-N and JUI-F boycotted the proceedings of the committee and still JUI-F has not ended its boycott and is adamant to oppose the Nato supply routes – said all the concerns raised by the opposition as well as the parties in the ruling coalition were thoroughly addressed and incorporated in the fresh set of proposals, while certain clauses were deleted on the demand of the opposition parties.The clause relating to sprucing up of mechanism of the US spy agencies’ operatives in Pakistan was deleted, while another one dealing with the US and other Western states defence contractors working on the country’s soil was also omitted from the proposals.Similarly, it was also decided that no foreign state would be allowed to use Pakistani airports and airbases for operation against any neighbouring state.Sources said the proposal to link reopening of Nato supply routes with halting the drone attacks came from the PML-N and all the other opposition parties supported it. And the suggestion to restricting the Nato supplies to medicines and food items came from the PML-Q and the same had also won approval from all the members of the committee.Sources aware of the development taking place on this front informed TheNation that the other stakeholders were also taken on board on these changes and the redrafted set of recommendations was most likely to be tabled before the Parliament for debate on Thursday when the joint session would resume after a one-day break.Parliamentary sources said the government would make another attempt to convince Fazl to extend support to these redrafted proposals for overall foreign policy review with the aim to evolve consensus on the issue.

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