Pak security committee warns government to be cautious during talks with India

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan’s National Parliamentary Committee on Security has warned the federal government to be careful while negotiating with India for peace, it has been reliably learnt.

“Yes, we have held some special sessions before and after the recent talks with Indian officials, and warned our government to be careful,” a top senator, who is a member of the National Parliamentary Security Committee, which includes representatives from all the political parties, said.

“Our committee has discussed these talks in details and viewed the process cautiously. We advised the government to be careful and work for meaningful negotiations,” he added.

“We are not against these talks, but we told the government that India may use these negotiations as a delaying tactic,” the senator said while refusing to divulge all details, terming the issue most sensitive.

The National Parliamentary Committee on Security had back-to-back meetings recently and monitored the national policy regarding the war on terror, the situation in Afghanistan, the internal security situation in Pakistan, the state of law and order in FATA (Federally Administrated Tribal Areas) and in Balochistan and relations with United States, Afghanistan and India.

“We have an eye on all key security issues, but most recently we discussed relations with India in detail and sent our recommendations to the government as a guideline for negotiations,” the senator said.

When pressed further, he said that the crux of the recommendations was to avoid mistakes made by military ruler Pervez Msuaharraf while dealing with India.

“We have told the government that Pervez Musharraf made a big mistake by totally surrendering to India and this cost a lot to the nation during the recent years. We need to be careful now,” he said.

The Senator, who is equally regarded in political and religious circles of the country, added that Pervez Musharraf gave a free hand to India by announcing a one-sided cease-fire and it helped India to harm Pakistan strategically.

“We don’t want repeat of this episode. India always uses dialogues as a delaying tactic and, they might use it again in the same way. We have told our government that if they are going to talk, they should concentrate on vital issues like Kashmir and water disputes,” he revealed.

“India will focus on the one point agenda of terrorism. Our government needs to bring them on the table to discuss Kashmir and water disputes in details and try to sort out a solution,” he said.

The Security Council member added that the committee was still discussing the issue and will provide more details to government before the foreign ministers level talks later this month.

“We will have another exclusive session on India before 14th of July, we will identify the priorities on all key issues related to India and will hand the government a complete guideline to deal with them,” he viewed.

However, the committee member, who is a very senior politian and leader of his party, said that he was unsure that government will implement their recommendations in letter and spirit.

“Our job is to give recommendations, but I am not sure that government will implement it fully, they would do whatever they want,” he said.

The senator added that the committee also advised the government on nuclear conference held recently in Brussels and advised to adopt a daring attitude against all those who level different allegations against the nuclear program of Pakistan and want to ’snatch this power from us’.

He however said was unaware that how far the government acted on their advice. (ANI)