SCBA denounces US sanctions

ISLAMABAD: Supreme Court Bar Association (SCBA) President Rauf Atta on Thursday denounced US sanctions on the National Development Complex (NDC) and three commercial entities.

In a statement issued here, he said the sanctions were based on hearsay and lack of substantial evidence. Such US sanctions are direct meddling in Pakistan’s all-important security-related matters and direct interference in its internal affairs.

“Global forces, such as the US, need to understand that every country has the right to take bare-minimum measures to maintain and ensure its internal as well as territorial security,” he said, adding that such a move would increase the risks to non-proliferation, thus endangering the peace and stability in the region. “Such sanctions will undermine our commitment to an economically-robust Pakistan.” He said: “Since independence in 1947, we recognized the US as a trustworthy strategic partner and have always tried to develop fair terms with it by promoting people-to-people interaction to shape our bilateral relations based on common mutual interests.

However, it goes without saying that all our fairness has often received political posturing.

The both countries are allies in the war against terrorism, a tough choice to make considering the consequences that have cost us dearly.”

“We encapsulate such unfair imposition of sanctions as a shocking move to disturb the peace and stability of the region, and a deliberate attempt to marginalize and destabilize the independent state of Pakistan,” he said and called upon the government of Pakistan and all state institutions to leave no stone unturned for the progress, safety, security and stability of Pakistan and the region.