Rehman Malik says that Pakistan will push for no drone strikes

Interior Minister Rehman Malik said on Monday that  Pakistan’s spy chief will call for an end to US drone strikes in its tribal areas bordering Afghanistan and push for a sharing of technology and intelligence during a visit to
Washington this week.

“We will push for no drones. If we (Pakistan and the US) are partners, we should sit together and have a common strategy.” However, in this regional war there has been no common strategy against a common enemy,” Interior Minister
Rehman Malik told a news conference in Dubai.

“I hope the visit of the director of the ISI will have good results. There is some dialogue going on as we speak,” he said. The United States has given no sign it is willing to halt the drone strikes.

“Both countries have to find a mid-way,” Malik told reporters. “This of course means intelligence-sharing. Also, give us the technology and we will use it. The US has given us F16s. Are we misusing it?

Lieutenant-General Zaheer ul-Islam’s visit to meet CIA director General David Petraeus will be his first since he became head of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) in March and follows a thaw in relations between Pakistan and
the United States.

Pakistan, however, continues to insist US drone strikes – which it says are a breach of its sovereignty – must end. Islamabad has been increasingly vocal in its public opposition to the drones. Pakistan’s leaders had quietly approved
initially but now say they are a violation of sovereignty and insist they fan anti-US sentiment.

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Posted by Hamza Jahangir on Jul 30 2012. Filed under Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry