News
Monday, July 25, 2011
Pakistan doesn’t want one-sided ties with US
* FM says good relations with US are in national interest
* Islamabad won’t accept anyone’s hegemony in region
LAHORE: Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Sunday that bilateral ties and not a one-sided relation with the US was required.
Addressing media men at the Lahore airport, the foreign minister said good relations with the United States were in Pakistan’s national interests.
Replying to a question about US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s recent statement exhorting India to play a leading role in the Asian region, Hina said that Pakistan required world’s support. “At the same time, the country will not accept anyone’s hegemony in the region,” she asserted.
The foreign minister said that she spoke with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at the ASEAN Regional Forum and expressed these views at the summit.
She also said that in order to make working relationship with the US succeed, reservations held between the two must be put aside.
She contended that neither the US nor India could downplay Islamabad’s strategic significance in the present scenario.
Her comments came a day after Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani rebuffed Clinton’s stand, stating that Pakistan did not desire to have a ‘chaudhry’ or headman in the region.
“Supremacy is out of question. Pakistan will not accept anyone’s supremacy. Pakistan is a sovereign state and will keep intact its sovereignty and strategic importance in the region through the pursuit of an effective foreign policy,” Khar told reporters.
“Pakistan’s role in this region is probably the most important now and the US recognises this,” she claimed.
“We have to have a reality-based and pragmatic approach and no one downplays Pakistan’s current strategic significance or importance, not the US or even India.”
While protecting its position in the region, Pakistan will continue to work for peace with all its neighbours, Khar said.
Asked about the arrest of Kashmiri separatist Ghulam Nabi Fai by the US authorities on charges of clandestinely working for Pakistan’s ISI, Khar said Fai was a US citizen who had worked for the Kashmiri cause “properly and within the limitations as much as we know”.
“Fai has rendered meritorious services for the Kashmir cause in line with the US law and the constitution,” she said, adding that Pakistan admired Dr Fai’s services for the Kashmiris.”
The minister said that the international community should recognise country’s role as a frontline ally in combating terror.
The minister said that the US secretary of state had expressed her willingness to bring relations back on track with Pakistan as well as remove any reservations between the two countries.
Khar said the US Secretary of State had agreed on meeting between the Pak-US foreign ministers soon. agencies
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk