Pakistan Opposition Wants Vote On War On Terror

By Cernig

Pakistan's main opposition party, led by Pakistan's most popular politician, has called for parliament to vote on whether Pakistan should remain a US ally in the so-called War on Terror.

"We need at this time to make it clear to foreign countries that Pakistan will not tolerate such actions," said Ahsan Iqbal, a leader of Sharif's Pakistan Muslim League-N party. "If it continues, then Pakistan can consider pulling out completely from this war on terror."

Iqbal and another party leader called on the government to convene parliament urgently to debate how Pakistan can respond.

"The parliament must be convened on a one-point agenda, because the nation is under a threat of war," Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan said. "Irrespective of where the threat is, every inch of this country is sovereign. Every inch of this country is sacred."

Nawaz Sharif has an 86% approval rating in Pakistan and he may have the backing of the military for this. The head of the military, General Kiyani, has said Pakistan will defend its territorial sovereignty "at all cost" and other generals have threatened retaliation for at least seven reported missile strikes as well as a raid by helicopter-borne U.S. commandos, all in the last month.

Such a move would cut off the coalition's main supply route to forces in Afghanistan and it's unclear what the US and its allies could do to enforce their will against nuclear-armed Pakistan. It was fears of exactly such a blowback which led the US intelligence community to advise Bush strongly against such attacks.

Both Republican Veep candidate Sarah Palin and Democratic Presidential candidate Barack Obama have supported unilateral strikes into Pakistan. Perhaps both need to get their thinking caps back on.