Islamabad, Dec 1 (IANS) Pakistan’s shock and response over the NATO airstrike that killed 24 soldiers ‘at what is essentially the result of our double game is overcooked’, a daily said Thursday, adding Islamabad may have gotten ‘slightly carried away’ in deciding not to attend the Bonn conference on Afghanistan.
An editorial in the Daily Times said that Pakistan is making the most of a bad situation by cutting a formidable figure over the Nov 26 NATO attack on two Pakistan Army checkposts in Mohmand Agency.
It said that ‘officials in Islamabad and the khakis in Rawalpindi are on the same page when it comes to castigating the US for this breach of territorial lines’.
Islamabad has also decided to boycott next week’s Bonn conference that would discuss the future course of action in Afghanistan.
The editorial said that anything related to the Afghan situation directly impacts Pakistan and the Bonn conference is vital in this regard.
‘For Pakistan to back out, while sending a clear message of no nonsense, might be a decision taken in the heat of the moment. Sombre reflection would have been better, as officials in Pakistan should have asked themselves if it is more advantageous to be at the conference or to boycott it,’ the daily said.
‘One cannot help but feel that, in this case, Pakistan has gotten slightly carried away as the conference may just go ahead without us. We may pout and grimace in a corner but key decisions about the future of Afghanistan may still be made,’ it added.
The editorial went on to say that whatever concessions the US makes to Pakistan remain to be seen as ‘a complete breakdown in the relationship goes in nobody’s favour’.
‘However, it is time Pakistan too makes some concessions,’ it said.
The daily said that while battling terror in the country, ‘we have been waging a proxy war in Afghanistan for so-called strategic depth’.
‘When taking such risks, incidents such as the one on Saturday are likely. Our shock and response at what is essentially the result of our double game is overcooked. It is time we wage this war in a manner that reduces the fatalities on our side and decreases the potential of having our ‘sovereignty’ violated, by abandoning the proxy war in Afghanistan,’ the editorial added.
