Bin Laden’s killing echoes in upper house of parliament

* Senators term operation by US forces a direct assault on Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty

By Tanveer Ahmed

ISLAMABAD: The killing of al Qaeda chief Osama Bin Laden echoed in the Upper House of parliament on Monday as the senators questioned the operation of US forces inside the country which, they said, was a direct assault on Pakistan’s territorial sovereignty.

They also deplored the silence of the government to give its version of the events involving US military operation in Abbottabad which killed Bin Laden.

They noted that “the killing of al Qaeda chief has given an opportunity to the international community to blame Pakistan for having safe sanctuaries of terrorists on its soil”.

Leader of the House, Nayyer Hussain Bukhari, assured the House that he would collect information about the incident from the Foreign Office and Interior Ministry and share it with the House shortly. “The role of our agencies in this whole episode will also be brought to the knowledge of the Senate,” he added.

Earlier, when the 70th session of the Senate started under the chair of Farooq Naek, Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz’s (PML-N) Senator Ishaq Dar, on a point of order, termed the Abbottabad episode a very “serious issue”, saying, “Ignorance of our armed forces to the operation is a serious concern.” He said what is more concern is the fact that the operation was carried out in an area where the military has a number of sensitive installations.

He demanded the prime minister to inform the House about the details of the operation which, he said, raised many more issues for the country.

National Party’s Senator Mir Hasil Bazinjo said that assassination of Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan was as important for the country as 9/11 incident for the US. “The killing of al Qaeda head in Pakistan has established the fact that reports about his presence pouring in for quite some time were not false,” added Bazinjo.

He felt that this particular incident would not stop the allegations against Pakistan that “it has safe havens for terrorists” and would bring new allegations about the presence of Haqqani Network, Ayman al-Zawahri and other terrorist elements on its soil.

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