The major opposition political parties both inside and outside the parliament have decided not to become part of Defa-e-Pakistan Council's (DPC) - an alliance of over 40 right-wing political and religious parties -scheduled long march against reopening of Nato supply route on July 8.
Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) and Pakistan Tehreek-Insaf (PTI) - major opposition parties made it crystal clear that they would protest against the government's decision to allow supplies for US/Nato forces, without meeting even a single condition of the parliament.
Chaudhary Nisar All Khan, leader of opposition in the National Assembly, said that the inept rulers had made Pakistan a laughing stock before the world, making a mockery of the unanimous parliamentary resolutions. Nisar felt that the decision is a total and abject surrender by a fumbling incompetent, corrupt, and rudderless government which has gone back on everything it claimed to have stood for, and in the process has not only ended up looking foolish but has also turned Pakistan's foreign and security policy into a joke.
"If they had to surrender and compromise so easily what was the point in first blocking the Nato routes and then referring the matter with great pomp and show to the Parliament for ultimate decision," he said. Nisar said that the PPP leaders might have forgotten the fiery speeches they made in parliament while passing resolutions, condemning Salala air strikes. They should keep this in mind that people have not forgotten their speeches during the assembly session and after passage of the unanimous resolution to implement each and every word of the resolution, he added.
"Their hollow statements and false promises are part of the record ...this colossal u-turn on the part of the government has caused grave damage to parliament and its independence and has compromised the sovereignty and self-respect of Pakistan in much the same way as Musharraf succumbed to foreign pressure on one phone call," he regretted.
He noted regret is not apology and one can only lament the intelligence and honesty of the official government spokesman who is claiming that an apology was actually made. He said it is particularly unfortunate in the backdrop of various apologies made to Afghanis in one case by no less a person than President Obama himself.
"The fact that the United States does not find it fit to apologize to a nation which has lost almost thirty eight of its citizens and billions of dollars in the "service' of the United States is reflective as much of US arrogance as of the sheer incompetence and failure of Pakistani rulers to safeguard the interest of the country."
When contacted PTI secretary information Shafqat Mehmood said that the party would not be part of DPC and would protest against government failure to put pressure on the US President Barack Obama to tender an unconditional apology over Salala massacre. When asked why the party would not be part of DPC, he said that they were political parties and not militant organisations, so there was no need to take such extremist groups onboard.
"We are political parties, we are not militant groups, so why we take them along in protest against reopening of Nato supply route...whatever we will do, we'll do ourselves," he maintained. He said that PTI would hold a mammoth public rally in Peshawar against government's move to take a unilateral decision ignoring the joint resolutions of parliament. "If it [government] kept on taking such decisions all by itself, what is the need of parliament," he questioned.
A spokesman of Jamit Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F) regretted the government decision to reopen the Nato supply route, saying that it should have not been resumed despite an apology. The government has taken unilateral decision, which is not acceptable, he said, adding that if it was the intention of the rulers, why they wasted precious time debating the US attack, which killed 24 soldiers. He said that the party would soon announce its future line of action regarding government's decision, which has thrown the unanimous resolutions of parliament into trash.