Pakistan has, in principle, decided to unblock supply line for foreign forces in neighboring Afghanistan after nearly six-month closure and a formal announcement is expected before or at the May 20-21 NATO summit in Chicago.
A panel of Pakistan`s top civil and military leaders took the decision Tuesday night but deferred a formal announcement for a couple of days on the plea of holding more consultations with the stakeholders involved in NATO supplies, sources close to the meeting said.
Official sources said Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, who presided over the meeting of Defence Committee of the Cabinet (DCC) including defence, interior and foreign ministers and military chiefs, favored reopening of NATO supply line.
The fact that Pakistan`s President Asif Ali Zardari was invited to attend NATO summit in Chicago by Nato Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen hours before the DCC meeting also prompted Pakistani leadership to decide to reopen NATO supply line.
Rasmussen last week warned that Pakistan could miss the Chicago summit if NATO supply line was not restored.
The DCC welcomed the unconditional invitation and fully endorsed the president`s participation in the summit, said an official statement issued after the meeting.
The U.S. embassy spokesman said that Pakistan and American officials have been holding talks in Islamabad over the past few days to discuss new terms for NATO to use Pakistan`s land routes for transporting supplies.
The U.S. State Department and Pentagon have also noted progress in Pakistan-U.S. talks on the issue.
It is widely believed that the formal announcement to reopen supply line will be made only after more consultations to finalize new terms and conditions.
"......the DCC authorized officers of relevant ministries/ departments to conclude the ongoing negotiation on the new terms and conditions for resumption of GLOC (Ground Lines of Communications)," the official statement said.
The parliament last month approved new guidelines for relationship with the U.S., which set conditions for reopening of the NATO supply line.
"The new terms and conditions should incorporate a clause, as recommended by Parliament, to the effect that only non-lethal cargo would be allowed to transit through Pakistan to Afghanistan, " the official statement said.
The DCC also decided that the military should negotiate with NATO/ISAF on border rules to ensure that incidents like U.S. airstrike on Pakistan`s border checkpoints last November do not reoccur.
Pakistan shut down the supply route to retaliate for the killing of 24 soldiers in the airstrike and conditions resumption on U.S. apology.
The decision was seen as a concession to growing pressure from the U.S. and NATO as closure of the supply line could affect their military operations in Afghanistan.
Sources : Antaranews
