News
Monday, December 12, 2011
Zardari needs two-week rest before returnBlockage of NATO supply ‘may last weeks’: Gilani
* PM refuses to rule out closing Pakistan’s airspace to US
* Islamabad, Washington need to trust each other better, end credibility gap
* US vacated Shamsi base in time
Daily Times Monitor
LAHORE: Pakistan may continue its blockade of NATO convoys into Afghanistan for several weeks, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani has told the BBC.
Pakistan stopped the convoys in protest against US airstrikes, which killed 24 of its troops at two border posts on the Afghan border last month. Gilani refused to rule out closing Pakistan’s airspace to the US. He also denied rumours that President Asif Ali Zardari had suffered a stroke and the army was trying to oust him.
The prime minister said that Zardari was making a rapid improvement in hospital in Dubai, but would need two weeks’ rest before returning home. In a wide-ranging interview with the BBC, Gilani said that Pakistan and the US needed to trust each other better. “Yes there is a credibility gap, we are working together and still we don’t trust each other,” Gilani said.
“I think we have to improve our relationship so that... we should have more confidence in each other.”
NATO forces in Afghanistan rely significantly on overland supply routes from the Pakistani seaport of Karachi. Hundreds of lorries have been camped out next to border crossings, waiting for the crisis to blow over.
Asked about the state of Zardari’s health, Gilani denied that the president had written a letter of resignation, as claimed by a source in Dubai. “Why should he?” asked the prime minister. “He has the backing and support of the entire parliament,” he said. To a question about Saraiki province, the prime minister said Saraiki province was a desire of the people and it was an important matter, which could not be left for the next parliament.
The government will approach the present assembly for creation of the Saraiki province, he added.
The prime minister said the United States had vacated the Shamsi airbase within the time limit. Shamsi was widely believed to have been used in covert CIA drone attacks against Taliban and al Qaeda targets in the Tribal Areas, but correspondents say it had not been used to launch drones for some time.
Gilani also said he would investigate the blocking of the BBC’s international news TV channel, BBC World News, by Pakistani cable television operators. Operators say the move is in response to a documentary broadcast by the channel, entitled Secret Pakistan. A BBC spokesperson said: “We welcome the prime minister’s support of free speech and promise to investigate this ban. We call on the government to carry out an investigation rapidly and for BBC services to be restored in Pakistan.
To a question on the memo scandal, Gilani said that his government would face and defeat all the cases in courts that were apparently haunting the PPP regime.
The prime minister refrained from commenting on the memogate scandal, but expressed extraordinary confidence about the victory of his party in the legal battle.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk