Opinion Under fire

The attack generated immense outrage. Daily Times reported on November 28: “Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said Pakistan would revisit engagement with NATO and ISAF.” Pakistan has permanently dismissed supplies to NATO forces using the Torkham and Chaman borders,said Interior Minister Rehman Malik. More significantly,Pakistan decided to boycott the Bonn Conference to deliberate on the Afghanistan endgame,scheduled for December 5. The Express Tribune reported on December 1: “The PM has simmered down,but not enough to confirm Pakistan’s attendance at the Bonn Conference. Hints of flexibility came after much insistence from German Chancellor Angela Merkel for Pakistan to reconsider boycotting the meeting on the Afghan endgame. However,the only assurance that PM Gilani gave Merkel was that Pakistan’s ambassador to Germany could attend the conference,but only if the parliamentary committee on national security approves. He turned down Merkel’s request that Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar attend the conference,while Khar herself told a Senate foreign relations committee that Pakistan’s decision was final.”

Apologies have come from the NATO secretary general,Anders Fogh Rasmussen,and the American ambassador to Pakistan,Cameron Munter,who also spoke a line of Urdu (“Humein bahot afsos hai/ We are very sorry”). “I have written… to make it clear that the deaths of Pakistani personnel are as unacceptable and deplorable as the deaths of Afghan and international personnel.” The Obama administration has promised Pakistan a “full investigation” into the attack,papers reported.

Pakistan’s army,however,maintains the attack was deliberate,reported The Express Tribune on November 29,quoting two top army officers who said: “There are four Pakistan and ISAF Afghanistan joint coordination centres,and the attack took place despite procedures being in place… They said there had been no violation by Pakistan on the… border. NATO and ISAF were aware of the border checkposts in the area and had fired on them from 12.05 am to 2.15 am. The Pakistani officer at the Tactical Operation Centre in Afghanistan had been misinformed,they said,adding that an American sergeant had told him that a Pakistan checkpost had fired on Special Forces in the border area and had changed his statement after seven minutes saying the fire had come from a different checkpost.” The US has refuted these charges. Dawn quoted General Martin Dempsey,chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff,on December 1: “The one thing I will say publicly and categorically is that this was not a deliberate attack…” Dempsey declined to discuss details of the US military’s review into the incident,but questioned Pakistan’s logic: “What in the world would we gain by attacking a Pakistan border post?”

The Express Tribune reported on December 2 that Pakistan’s army chief,General Ashfaq Kayani,has reviewed the chain of command of the troops stationed at the border,which effectively means henceforth,NATO and ISAF will also be perceived as potential threats,and they are authorised to retaliate without seeking permission from their commanders if there is another incident that Pakistan considers hostile.

New innings

Former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has finally announced his new political affiliation,choosing Imran Khan’s PTI. He addressed Khan as “Chairman Imran Khan”,papers reported. He announced this at a rally in Ghotki,Sindh,(where Qureshi’s family has traditionally enjoyed massive support). The crowd at the event outnumbered that at Khan’s rally in Lahore last month.