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Thursday March 28, 2024

Govt, opposition agree on commission

By Muhammad Anis
March 16, 2017

Haqqani’s claims

Khawaja Asif denies sending troops to Saudi Arabia; Haqqani says digging the issue won’t help

ISLAMABAD: The government and the opposition parties in the National Assembly have agreed on the constitution of a parliamentary commission to investigate the disclosures made by Husain Haqqani regarding the killing of Osama bin Laden and other issues concerning the national security.

Speaking on a point of order, Minister for Defence Khawaja Asif called for constituting a multi-party parliamentary commission to investigate the recent utterances of the former Pakistani ambassador to US during the PPP government, Husain Haqqani. “It is a breach of national security and needs thorough probe by a powerful parliamentary commission,” Khawaja Asif said.

To a demand from the opposition members, Khawaja Asif said the proposed commission should be empowered to seek report of any of the commissions, including the Abbottabad Commission. “The opposition leader cannot absolve its government of the issue by just calling Husain Haqqani a traitor,” the minister said, arguing that the issue was not as simple as it was raised after every three months.

Opposition Leader Syed Khursheed Shah and the PTI members immediately supported the proposal of the defence minister. However, the opposition leader said the joint parliamentary commission should also probe issues of DawnLeaks and it should also investigate as to who supported Osama bin Laden in the past.

Members of the MQM also supported the proposal of the parliamentary commission. Deputy Speaker Murtaza Javed Abbasi said the government and the opposition parties should sit together to decide terms of reference (ToRs) for the proposed parliamentary commission. Khawaja Asif said that in the past also, Husain Haqqani had talked about the Abbottabad incident but in his latest utterance, he also used the names of then president Asif Zardari and then prime minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani. “Former interior minister was also aware of issuance of visas,” he said, adding that the proceeding of the commission should be held before the media.

The defence minister said that hundreds of visas were issued during the PPP tenure to people who worked for the US interests. He said the former interior minister was also involved in issuance of visas to Americans while Asif Zardari and Yusuf Raza Gilani were also aware of the matter. “The visas were issued with clearance of the security institutions,” he said.

The minister said he would give a detailed statement on the Husain Haqqani issue in the House on Monday. Responding to a point of order from Shafqat Mehmood of the PTI, Khawaja Asif maintained that Pakistan would never involve in the conflict between the two Muslim countries, Saudi Arabia and Yemen. He said that no new brigade of the Pakistan Army was deployed in Saudi Arabia, explaining that under the 1982 agreement, over 1,000 troops of different cadres are working in Saudi Arabia. He categorically stated that Pakistan was not and would never involve in the Yemen conflict. “We will not violate the resolution passed by this House in this regard,” he said.

Khursheed Shah said the constitution of a high-powered parliamentary commission to take up security issues would certainly enhance importance of parliament. Shafqat Mehmood also supported the idea of a parliamentary commission, saying issues concerning the national security should also be debated in the House.

Dr Arif Alvi of the PTI said the Abbottabad Commission report should be made public prior to constitution of the parliamentary committee. Shaikh Salahuddin of the MQM said the PPP leadership had disowned Husain Haqqani and his statements but the issue needs a thorough probe by the joint parliamentary commission.

Meanwhile, Husain Haqqani said that neither he made any admissions nor hurled any accusations in his opinion piece that has stirred a storm in the political circles in the country. “The more one digs into the matter, nothing will be revealed,” said Haqqani while taking a dig at those asking for a parliamentary commission to probe the issue, saying the same people had termed a commission on the Memogate inadequate. He said the people should not take the matter seriously, Geo News reported.

Haqqani said that he had penned the opinion piece on reports emerging in the media, adding that the matter was being blown out of proportion to divert attention from Panama and other issues. He clarified that he had admitted to the presence of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in Pakistan, but hadn’t claimed someone had intentionally facilitated their presence.

In his article, "Yes, the Russian ambassador met Trump’s team. So? That’s what we diplomats do” — published in The Washington Post, Haqqani had admitted that with the authorisation of the then elected civilian leaders he, as Pakistan’s ambassador to the US, had facilitated the presence of large number of CIA operatives in Pakistan to track down Osama bin Laden.