Pakistan's real enemy 

(MENAFN - Arab News) After the brutal murder of Dr. Khalil Rasjed in Quetta, the Red Cross has announced the suspension of its aid projects in Pakistan and recalled foreign staff to the capital. The US House Armed Services Committee approved a bill that will prohibit the preferential procurement of goods and services from Pakistan until NATO supply lines to Afghanistan are reopened.

The US Congress has proposed to reduce aid to Pakistan to just 10 percent of the available funds and stop all the reimbursements. Earlier, a house appropriations panel for foreign aid denied 800 million to Pakistan from a special fund for training and equipping its military in counterinsurgency tactics.

Pakistan's defense minister warned that his country may face sanctions if the NATO supply lines are not opened. Earlier both the US and Afghanistan signed a strategic partnership agreement while keeping Pakistan and Taleban out of the equation. This agreement allows the US to maintain its military presence in Afghanistan for the next 10 years, which means Pakistan will no longer play a vital role in the stabilization of Afghanistan.

Shouldn't we all be grateful to the Pakistani Parliament for all this stalemate and isolation? The country's Parliament deliberated for months on the issue of NATO supplies, and under the pressure of right-wing hard-liners, came up with preconditions that have made the whole country a hostage.

The Parliament asked for the drone attacks to be stopped but that too has not happened. Moreover, the US has already ignored Pakistan's demand for civil nuclear technology for obvious reasons.

Can we come out of the dream that we are the masters of the region and that the US can neither retreat from Afghanistan nor shape up its future without our help?

Time is running out. Do we still need help to identify who our real enemies are that have taken the whole region hostage to enforce its extremist ideology?