ISLAMABAD: Another kind of US “drone attack” on Pakistan’s sovereignty through moving a resolution in the House of Representatives on Balochistan by lawmaker Dana Rohrabacher has caused intense furore in Pakistan which finds it as a part of conspiracy to destabilise the country and create chaos.

It appears that the National Assembly’s unanimous condemnatory resolution instantly passed on February 14 after the hearing on Balochistan in the House Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations chaired by Rohrabacher had no impact on the US lawmaker to refrain from indulging in more intervention.

The motion moved by leader of the opposition Ch Nisar Ali Khan demanded that the government convey to the US administration in clear terms that such hearings were totally unacceptable. “The US administration needs to play a more proactive role in discouraging such ill-informed and motivated debates on sensitive issues relating to a sovereign country.”

On Saturday, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani strongly condemned the resolution on Balochistan for being against Pakistan’s sovereignty. He said Dr Shakeel Afridi (who facilitated CIA to reach and kill Osama bin Laden and who is desperately sought by the US to receive medals for the service he did to them), would be dealt with in accordance with Pakistani laws. On the earlier congressional hearing, Gilani had stated on February 15 that the move was tantamount to the US crossing the red line on the issue of Pakistan’s integrity and sovereignty, which would not be tolerated.

On February 8, the House Foreign Affairs’ Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations heard human rights activists and others detail human rights “abuses” in Balochistan, which was meant to hammer Pakistan severely to completely bow to the US dictates. Adding fuel to the fire on Thursday, Congressman Dana Rohrabacher introduced a resolution in the House calling upon Pakistan to recognise the Baloch right to self-determination. The motion, which was co-sponsored by Representatives Louie Gohmert and Steve King, highlighted Balochistan’s troubled past with the Centre after Pakistan’s creation. While Gilani spoke on the US intervention, angry reverberations over the offensive resolution were felt in other circles.

Punjab Assembly Deputy Speaker Rana Mashhood, belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N), said a motion would be moved in the provincial legislature in its emergency session to condemn the US resolution.

“The American ambassador should be summoned by the foreign office to receive Pakistan’s protest. The resolution is an attack on Pakistan’s sovereignty. The US picked up the courage to move the motion in the House to intervene in Pakistan’s internal affairs due to our silence on drone attacks,” Mashhood told the reporters in Lahore.

In Peshawar, PML-N MP Javed Iqbal Abbasi moved a motion in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Assembly, describing the US resolution as a conspiracy against Pakistan. It said the resolution was the result of suspension of Nato supplies through Pakistan, which the whole Pakistani nation condemns.

The blatant intervention brought about deep resentment, disappointment and dejection in people at large, but buoyed up a few young Baloch leaders, living comfortably abroad, who are directing trouble in the ongoing insurgency in Balochistan, feeling they are getting recognition in the most powerful country of world.

However, Rohrabacher’s moves were part of the larger agenda of anti-Pakistani elements to destabilize this country. The resolution was introduced on a day Iranian President Mehmood Ahmedinejad arrived in Pakistan to attend a trilateral summit.

The Pakistan Foreign Office (FO) condemned the resolution terming it “highly irresponsible and a blatant interference in Pakistan’s domestic affairs,” and “a violation of international laws.”

However, FO spokesman Abdul Basit did not take calls made to his mobile phone to know about any protest that Pakistan plans to lodge with the US. On the fourth day of the congressional hearing on Balochistan, the FO had summoned the US charge d’ affaires to receive Pakistan’s protest.

When Basit did not respond to calls to his cell, his private secretary was dictated the questions for answers: what is the detail of protest lodged by Pakistan with the US on the resolution? Why has not even the previous statement containing protest to the US been uploaded on FO website while all such press releases figure there? No response was received till filing of this report.

The Pakistan Embassy in Washington rejected the move as ill informed and unacceptable. “We reject this ill informed move and the Congressman’s misplaced concern on Balochistan, which is a part of the Pakistani Federation. The resolution seeks to cast doubt on the territorial integrity of a member of the United Nations and a friend of the United States, and is totally unacceptable,” it said.

In Islamabad, Information Minister Dr Firdous Ashiq Awan termed the US resolution an intervention in Pakistan’s internal matters and said the Pakistan government condemned it. The government would safeguard Pakistan’s sovereignty and would protest against the resolution at all forums.