President Zardari says re-engagement with the US not possible without apology

In quite a categorical stance, President Asif Ali Zardari has said told the United States that progress towards re-engagement would not be possible without a public apology.

Islamabad is repeatedly asking Washington to offer official apology over the last year NATO airstrikes that killed 24 Pakistani troops at Salala check-posts, Mohmand Agency.

A statement issued by the presidency after a meeting between President Zardari and US Special Envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan Marc Grossman observed, “President Asif Ali Zardari has said that after Pakistan has followed the democratic course for re-engagement with the United States , it was now the turn of the US to help Pakistan in reaching closure on Salala”.

In a bid to get the apology as quid pro quo, the Pakistani president showed willingness to resume NATO supply-line under new terms of engagement. However, the Americans appeared to be uncompromising and unsatisfied.

Zardari asserted, “We have already initiated an inter-agency consultation process and broad parameters have been developed for an agreement on ISAF/NATO supplies through Pakistan”.

Washington, instead of offering an apology, wants Pakistan to settle for invitation to Chicago Summit in return for the reopening of ground supply-line to the allied forces battling in Afghanistan.

Officials engaged in the dialogue process from the two sides were of the view that the US was showing reluctance in apologizing, which had stymied the normalization process and the first round of talks concluded without any conclusion.

The Pakistani President noted down, “Drone attacks are highly counter-productive in the war against militants both sides should consider setting up a framework of mechanism to find mutually acceptable alternatives”.

The NATO incursion into the Pakistani territory threw US-Pak ties, which had already weighed down following the killing of Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in the garrison city of Abbottabad, into a spin and Pakistan reacted by ordering revision of terms of engagement with Washington, blocking NATO supply-line and evicting the Americans from the Shamsi airbase.

The Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) prepared a proposal of revising ties with the US, which passed through the joint-sitting of the houses unanimously.

The new terms of engagements ask the US to stop drone strikes and cut down American footprint in the Pakistan soil.

Short URL: https://www.newspakistan.pk/?p=20570

Posted by Faisal Farooq on Apr 28 2012. Filed under Latest News, National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.