Pak parliament threatens to cut off access to facility used by NATO forces

ISLAMABAD (agencies): Pakistan's parliament threatened Saturday to cut off access to a facility used by NATO forces to ferry troops into Afghanistan, signalling a growing rift that began when US commandos killed Osama bin Laden during a raid on a Pakistani compound. A resolution adopted during a joint session of parliament condemned the US action. It also called for a review of its working agreement with the US, demanded an independent investigation and ordered the immediate end of drone attacks along its border region. Failure to end unilateral US raids and drone attacks will force Pakistan to "to consider taking necessary steps, including withdrawal of (the) transit facility" used by the NATO's International Security Assistance Force, according to the resolution. Meanwhile: Pakistan's intelligence chief was cited as saying he was ready to resign over the bin Laden affair, which has embarrassed the country and led to suspicion that Pakistani security agents knew where the al Qaeda chief was hiding. Members of the two houses of parliament said the government should review ties with the United States to safeguard Pakistan's national interests and they also called for an end to US attacks on militants with its pilotless drone aircraft. They also called for an independent commission to investigate the bin Laden case. Pakistan officially objects to the drone attacks, saying they violate its sovereignty and feed public anger, although US officials have long said they are carried out under an agreement between the countries. The legislators said US "unilateral actions" such as the Abbottabad raid and drone strikes were unacceptable, and the government should consider cutting vital US lines of supply for its forces in Afghanistan unless they stopped. Police in Charsadda said they had recovered for analysis body parts of the two bombers who struck at the gates of a paramilitary force academy in the town of Charsadda as recruits were pouring out to go on leave. Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, head of the military's main Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) spy agency, told parliament in a closed-door briefing he was "ready to resign" over the bin Laden affair, a legislator said.