Yousaf Raza Gilani highlights trust deficit between Pakistan and US
Sunday, January 29th, 2012 7:43:28 by Ammar Ahmad
Yousaf Raza Gilani highlights trust deficit between Pakistan and US
Pakistan Prime Minister, Yousaf Raza Gilani, while speaking at the Davos forum criticised the resumption of drone strikes by the US in his country and insisted that there was critical trust deficit between the two countries.
“Drones are counter-productive. We have very ably isolated militants from the local tribes. When there are drone attacks that creates sympathy for them again,” Gilani told.
The PM further said, “It makes the job of the political leadership and the military very difficult. We have never allowed the drone attacks and we have always maintained that they are unacceptable, illegal and counterproductive.”
Relations between the United States and Pakistan have deteriorated sharply over the last year, with Islamabad furious about the surprise deadly raid on al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden’s hideout in Abbottabad last year.
The two sides have also been at loggerheads over a US air strike in November in which 24 Pakistani soldiers were killed.
The US halted drone strikes on Pakistan soil in the immediate aftermath of that strike but they have since resumed.
US officials say the northwestern tribal belt provides sanctuary to Taliban fighting in Afghanistan, al Qaeda groups plotting attacks on the West, Pakistani Taliban who routinely bomb Pakistan and other foreign fighters.
In public, Pakistani leaders always insist they are against drone strikes, which are deeply unpopular in the country, but US officials insist that they privately cooperate with the programme.
Tags: Afghanistan, NATO, yousaf raza gilaniShort URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=10916
Posted by Ammar Ahmad
on Jan 29 2012. Filed under Latest News, Pakistan.
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