Thaindian News

Islamabad, Oct 1 (IANS) The All Parties Conference (APC) held here amid deteriorating US-Pakistan ties was “a resounding failure”, said a Pakistani daily Saturday.

The conference Thursday was attended by over 50 political leaders who deliberated upon the country’s security scenario.

The US-Pakistan relationship worsened after Washington accused Pakistan’s powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) of supporting the Haqqani network.

An editorial in the Nation said that the meeting was “a resounding failure”.

“At the APC they were expected to formulate a national response to the threat of invasion of Pakistan’s territory…And that should have found a mention in the formal resolution,” it said.

“The context demanded that our leaders affirmed, in unequivocal terms, the nation’s unflinching resolve to defend the country under all circumstances and tell the US that if it ever dared launch an aggression against us, it would not go unpunished,” it added.

The editorial said that the political parties “ought to have told the world that the US was trying to make Pakistan a scapegoat for its defeat in the 10-year long fight…”

“But the resolution only pleased those who were either scared of the US or wanted only to hush up the matter.”

It went on to say that it was unfortunate “some leaders lacked the required focus; perhaps, they failed to rise above their political or personal biases; for it was incomprehensible, given the threatening scenario looming large on the horizon of Pakistan…”

Stating that it was “a sheer disappointment to see our collective leadership, all to a man, digressing from the main issue”, it said: “The 13-point resolution that the APC put out after long deliberations is simply a waste of paper. The height of our leaders’ pusillanimity is that the word, US, is not even mentioned.”