Pakistani MPs debate re-opening of NATO supply line
Pakistan's parliament has formally opened a debate on whether or not to re-open the supply line for the US-led troops in neighboring Afghanistan.
Majority of the lawmakers present at the debate urged the government not to allow transportation of arms and ammunition to foreign forces.
Deputies from the country’s Islamic groups strongly opposed the re-opening of the supply-line altogether. However, some members of other groups agreed that only food items could be allowed to be transferred.
The Pakistani lawmakers also demanded an immediate end to the US drone attacks and criticized the US ‘double standards’.
They were also unanimous in calling on the government to resist foreign pressure on national issues and to adopt an independent foreign policy.
NATO helicopters and fighter jets attacked two Pakistani military outposts in northwest Pakistan on November 26, 2011 killing 24 Pakistani troops and plunging the already strained US-Pakistan relations further into crisis.
A primary investigation into the incident by Pentagon in December put the blame on both Americans and Pakistani forces, indicating that the Pakistani troops fired first from two border posts that were not on coalition maps.
The findings also suggested that the Pakistani soldiers kept firing even after Americans tried to warn them that they were shooting at allied forces.
This is while a Pakistani parliamentary committee demanded an apology from the United States for the November airstrike, calling the attack a “blatant violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.
In response to the airstrike, Pakistan stopped the NATO supply convoys headed for the US-led forces in Afghanistan. Islamabad also called on the US to vacate Shamsi airbase in southwestern Balochistan Province.
On March 24, 2012, the New York Times reported that a second investigation into the incident carried out by the US military had determined that no American military personnel should be punished in face of the deadly airstrikes.
The American forces fired in self-defense and any other mistakes had been the result of battlefield confusion, the US officials said.
Pakistan, however, has repeatedly rejected the result of the investigation, pointing the finger of blame at the American troops.