Pakistan Thursday said it would launch an inter-agency process to define the extent of counter-terrorism cooperation with the United States amid tensions over the raid that killed Osama bin Laden.
The decision came at a meeting of the defence committee of the cabinet amid strained relations between Islamabad and Washington over the US raid that killed the Al-Qaeda chief in the Pakistani garrison city of Abbottabad.
Chaired by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and attended by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Khalid Shamim Wynne, armed forces chiefs and some ministers, the committee “comprehensively” reviewed the post-bin Laden situation.
The committee decided “to institute an inter-agency process to clearly define the parameters of our cooperation with the US in counter terrorism,” an official statement said.
It added this would be done “in accordance with Pakistan’s national interests and the aspirations of the people”.
The committee condemned the “US unilateral action in violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty” and said: “safeguarding sovereignty and national security is a sacred duty, which will be ensured at all costs”.
It said,” Pakistan is capable and shall respond appropriately to any challenge to national security, with the full support of the people”.
Pakistanis have been outraged at the perceived impunity of the US raid, while asking whether their military was incompetent or conspired to protect bin Laden and Washington has pressed Islamabad to investigate how the Al-Qaeda chief managed to live for years under the noses of its military.
The committee reiterated “Pakistan’s readiness to cooperate with the international community in promoting effective joint cooperation in countering terrorism” but said “it would be predicated on Pakistan’s security interest.”
“In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Gilani emphasised the importance of ensuring national security and protection of national interests by all state institutions, with the full support of the people,” the statement said.
Pakistan has been in crisis over the bin Laden debacle with President Asif Ali Zardari and Gilani facing calls to resign.
US officials are now poring over a trove of intelligence obtained in the May 2 helicopter-borne raid on a suburban compound that killed the Al-Qaeda leader, including a handwritten journal containing his “operational ideas”.
The surgical operation by US Navy SEALs, seemingly carried out without the knowledge of Islamabad or the country’s powerful military leadership, has caused widespread embarrassment in Pakistan.
Gilani sought to defend the country in a speech to parliament on Monday, fending off charges of complicity or incompetence over the raid as “absurd” and criticising US “unilateralism” on its soil.
He also announced that a lieutenant general would head an inquiry “to get to the bottom of how, when and why” bin Laden had been hiding in the garrison town where he was killed by US forces.
