‘Isolated incidents’ must not hurt US-Pak ties: Zardari

Zardari says Pakistan and the US must remain focused on path of pursuing long-term strategic ties.

KARACHI:

Pakistan and the United States must not let “misperceptions and isolated incidents” to affect their relationship, President Asif Zardari said on Monday amidst a deepening controversy between the two allies over the arrest of an alleged  CIA contractor on murder charges.

At a meeting with Ambassador Marc Grossman, the US special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the president said Pakistan and the United States “must remain focused on the path of pursuing long-term, multifaceted and durable strategic ties for the realisation of shared objectives rather than to be swayed by misperceptions and some isolated incidents,” according to a handout.

He was apparently referring to Raymond Davis, the American detained on murder charges, though the handout did not mention Davis.

Zardari said a weakening of ties was not an option for the two countries. “We have to find ways and means to find acceptable solutions to all problems,” he said.

He said Pakistan was fighting militants in a manner suited to its own peculiar context “and no one should question our commitment or intentions”.

Zardari said the government had adopted a policy of dialogue, development and deterrence to take on the challenge posed by the militants.

The president said the world could not afford non-state actors to dictate their policies to governments, adding that militants wanted to change the existing order.

This appeared to be a reference to the murder of minorities affairs minister Shahbaz Bhatti last week. Zardari said he had urged the international community to grant Pakistan preferential trade status as this would help the country fight militancy and terrorism which not only threatened the country but also regional and world peace.

In a separate meeting with the envoy, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said the two countries must carry forward their bilateral relations without hiccups.

The envoy also met Army Chief Ashfaq Parvez Kayani and State Minister for Foreign Affairs Hina Rabbani Khar.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 8^th, 2011.