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We are piling diplomatic pressure on US: PM
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Engagement with US to continue: FO
Despite difficulties, Islamabad remains committed to ties with Washington: Tehmina Janjua.
Despite difficulties, Islamabad remains committed to ties with Washington: Tehmina Janjua. PHOTO: FILE
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan on Thursday said it would continue its ‘multi-track engagement’ with the US law enforcement agencies in its counter-terrorism efforts despite recent hiccups in ties between the two countries.
“Pakistan attaches immense importance to its relations with the US. We have a multi-track engagement with the US. Law enforcement and counter-terrorism is one such track,” said Foreign Office spokesperson Tehmina Janjua at her weekly briefing.
However, Janjua refrained from directly commenting on the recent media reports claiming that joint intelligence operations between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States have been halted since January due to the Raymond Davis affair, when the CIA operative killed two people in broad daylight in Lahore.
“All discussions with regard to counter-terrorism take place within the context of the law enforcement and counter-terrorism track,” said Janjua when asked about the state of relations between the spy agencies of Pakistan and the US.
Janjua said Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir was visiting Washington at the invitation of the US government on April 20 to hold talks on issues crucial for the two countries.
“The foreign secretary will be in Washington on April 21-22, to hold consultations on a broad range of issues, including bilateral relations, matters pertaining to counter terrorism and Afghanistan as well as ongoing developments in the Middle East and North Africa,” she added.
The spokesperson reiterated Pakistan’s public opposition to the US drone campaign in the country’s tribal belt.
“Drone attacks have become a main irritant in the counter-terror campaign.”
But she did not say what measures Pakistan could take to persuade the US to stop predator strikes. “We have taken up the issue of the drone attacks with the US government at all levels.”
Judicial committee visit
Earlier, in her opening statement, the spokesperson said the members of the Judicial Committee on Prisoners would visit Pakistan from April 19 to 23.
“The Judicial Committee on Prisoners comprises four eminent retired judges each from Pakistan and India,” she added.
The committee is charged with investigating the imprisonment of civilians in both countries who are accused of straying into the other country’s territorial waters.
Fishermen from both India and Pakistan are frequently jailed for crossing a boundary that is difficult to determine without sophisticated navigational equipment that most of the fishermen lack. Both sides have tried for years to solve the problem to no avail.
Published in The Express Tribune, April 15th, 2011.
Reader Comments (6)
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As if there was a choice. Remember, if you do a lot of oo aa, get ready to be bombed back to the stone age.Recommend
Why Pakistan’s Government allow US for drone attacks?
This create a sense that we are still not an independent country because we follow the instructions of white house.Challenges like Terrorism may be crucial but our army doing best against it to cut the roots of it and they can themselves perform immediate action on the pakistan’s land then why they allow US to take actions on their area land what it show?
Think in it Recommend
It will be interesting to watch Foreign ministers’s interview in US after the meeting. Recommend
@Saleem Ullah Khan: Just thought about what you said. Just realised what you said was just talk.
You say your army is doing its best to cut the roots of terrorism, whereas the fact is that it nurturing the terrorists, aka the haqqani network to be used as strategic depth tools in afghanistan.
You say your army can perform immediate action on pakistan’s land. Double reply : 1. Your army has never in the past so many decades even placed a step in these areas. 2. Your army has already conveyed that they will act whenever they feel like (which may be never) and not as you said “immediately”
The sane people would have already recognised that the terrorists being targeted by the americans are those that run back from afghanistan into pakistan. The question that needs to be answered is how can they go into pakistan, if the pakis as they proclaim are going to hunt down these terrorists. The fact is they run back into ISI’s lap and then the americans dont want to slap a fair weather ally in the public.
If the pakis for whatever reason they come up with, be it inability, lack of resources, or the real true reason, lack of willingness, or rather active support of the haqqani network; if they dont want to go after the terrorists, they should be prepared to keep eating missiles every day and every night.
The fact is that whenever the americans bomb the haqqani network, its leaders run back to the ISI and then pasha runs to the US begging them to stop the bombings.Recommend
The US wants Haqqanis hellfired. But Kayani wants Haqqani to be at the negotiating table. This drone attack is just a part of the cat and mouse game. Zardari and Gilani have no role in this except making noises scripted by the GHQ. Recommend
@Sarah:
Agree with you, if the pakis are not careful the americans will do just that!! Can not see the present admin in US re-elected and it will only take a right wing republican in the office to deal with this tom & jerry game!! Bit scary, but there is no hope with pakistan’s present or future governments as they really are just showpiece for GHQ, and until this is resolved nothing will be achieved.
To top it all they really do not have a foreign policy of any fashion or type and will always be sitting on fence, and create tensions with kashmir issues and play india card for the masses!!!
India is really not interested in pakistan, except to see stability in the country, as they are too busy developing and growing their economy.Recommend