Sharif questions Pak military's role in Afghan

Islamabad: PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif raised several "tough questions" for the military leadership during a meeting to discuss Pakistan-US tensions, saying the country had increasingly become isolated in the world and there must be some reasons for this.

Sharif made the remarks during Thursday's in-camera meeting convened by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani to forge national consensus on a response to US accusations that the Inter-Services Intelligence agency was backing the Haqqani network and waging a proxy war in Afghanistan, media reports said on Friday.

During the question and answer session of the meeting, Sharif asked military officials why the entire world was pointing fingers at Pakistan's conduct vis- -vis its role in Afghanistan, the Dawn newspaper quoted its sources as saying.

Sharif questioned military leaders present at the meeting and asked them to explain the security situation of the country with regard to recent US allegations.

"Where there is smoke there is fire," Sharif was quoted as saying by The Express Tribune newspaper.

During his address at the meeting, Sharif referred to the May 2 US raid that killed Osama bin Laden and said President Asif Ali Zardari wrote flattering articles in American newspapers while Prime Minister Gilani described it as a "great victory".

"It is because of such attitudes that the world looks on us with doubtful eyes and is encouraged to hurl threats," Sharif reportedly said.

"There must be something fishy going on for the world to be making such noises against Pakistan," Sharif was quoted as saying.

The government should put everything on record in parliament to take the people into confidence on Pakistan's tense ties with the US, he said.

The former premier questioned whether frequent US drone attacks and the killing of bin Laden in Abbottabad had not violated Pakistan's sovereignty, media reports said.

Sharif contended that Pakistan's foreign and defence policies were "being run by some people in disregard of parliament which should have discussed and formulated them".

The situation reportedly prompted Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Parvez Kayani to intervene.

Kayani reportedly told Sharif: "We will respond to all of your queries."

Sharif, whose government was removed in a military coup in 1999, reportedly expressed concern over rampant corruption that was "leading the country nowhere".

The PML-N chief was not the only leader who was critical of the military and the ISI at the nine-hour meeting.

Mahmood Khan Achakzai, chief of the Balochistan-based Pakhtunkhwa Milli Awami Party, reportedly questioned the ISI's role in dealing with the Afghan crisis.

Achakzai said if the ISI wanted to bring peace to the war-ravaged country, it could do so within a month, TV news channels reported.