ISLAMABAD: Reacting to opposition challenges and a controversy fuelled by media reports, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani assured the National Assembly on Thursday his government would not succumb to any foreign dictation about when and where to launch a military operation in the so-called war on terrorism.

And he also said nobody could force any official of the country’s top spy agency, Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), to comply with reported summons from a US court for appearance in a case related to the 2008 terror attacks in Mumbai.

Opposition leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had raised the issue of the reported summons from a New York court for the present and a former chief of the ISI and two serving Pakistan Army majors in a lawsuit accusing them of training and facilitating the Mumbai attackers, asking the government not to let it happen or allow any foreign power to make Pakistani institutions hostage despite his own “reservations” about the role of intelligence agencies within the country.

The question of alleged US pressure on Pakistan to launch a military operation in North Waziristan against Taliban and Al Qaeda hideouts was raised by Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman in an anti-government tirade over his party’s decision last week to quit the PPP-led coalition over the sacking of a party minister for alleged indiscipline.

But the prime minister, in his response, only referred to the speech of the opposition leader — who also complained about alleged humiliation of a grandson of the late Baloch leader Akbar Khan Bugti while being arrested near Quetta on Wednesday for allegedly carrying illegal arms — and seemed to ignore the JUI leader, who had spoken earlier in his absence, accusing the PPP of breaking “a string of friendship” with his party, bowing to perceived American dictates in the war on terror and being a threat to Sharia, which he said his party wanted enforced.

“It will be a fallacy to think that we will take any action under their pressure,” the prime minister said about the alleged US pressure, often reported by western media but denied by American officials, adding that there would be “no compromise on Pakistan’s integrity and sovereignty”.

“This will be a decision of the Pakistani nation where and when we have to launch an operation and nobody can dictate to us (from the outside),” he said.

US court summonsOn Chaudhry Nisar’s point about the US court summons, which Pakistani officials have said have not yet been received here, the prime minister said he would not make a policy statement now because of the “extremely sensitive” nature of the ISI, but added: “If they don’t agree to appear before the American court, nobody can send them.”

However, he said whatever the decision, it would be taken with “mutual consultation”.

About the controversial role of intelligence and security agencies in Balochistan, to which Chaudhry Nisar had referred in the context of the arrest of Shahzain Bugti, who is also the president of the Balochistan chapter of Jamhoori Watan Party founded by his grandfather, Mr Gilani assured the house to take the opposition into confidence in framing a future policy for the province, which he said was also facing foreign interference.

However, he said he thought “the agencies should not be so high” (in their role) there although, he added, it was a provincial matter.

He said he would seek information from the provincial government about the circumstances of Mr Bugti’s arrest and would ask Interior Minister Rehman Malik to brief the house about it on his return from a visit to Turkey as a member of President Asif Ali Zardari’s delegation to an Economic Cooperation Organisation summit.

Chaudhry Nisar said although he would not comment on the allegations against Mr Bugti, the way he was arrested — while being in a motorcade carrying heavy weapons — as being shown in pictures published in newspaper being caught by an official by the neck was humiliating.

While demanding a total ban on private motorcades, the opposition leader said the authorities should make “a difference between a political leader and a hired assassin”.

Maulana Fazl, in his speech earlier from his front-row seat on the treasury benches, said all his eight party members’ desks should be considered opposition benches until the implementation of a party request to Speaker Fehmida Mirza to shift their seats to the opposition side.

Chaudhry Nisar avoided making any comment about JUI’s stance or saying whether its members would be welcome to the opposition.

The house passed a government bill providing for a relief of bail for under-trial men after two years’ detention if the offence is punishable with death, one year for lesser offences and after one year and six months, respectively, for women. The Code of Criminal Procedure (Amendment) Bill provides for a similar relief at the appellate stage.

But this relief will not be available in cases where a court thinks the trial has been delayed by “an act or omission of the accused or any other person acting on his behalf”, involving a previously convicted offender for an offence punishable with death or life imprisonment and one who the court thinks is a hardened criminal or involved in an act of terrorism punishable with death or life imprisonment.

Water and Power Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf, while responding to a call-attention notice from five MQM members, said he would call officials concerned of the Karachi Electric Supply Company for a meeting in Islamabad during the current session of the house to sort out complaints of power cut-offs and over-billing.