Pakistan on Thursday listed Raymond
Davis case, American unilateral raid to kill Osama bin Laden
and the recent NATO strike as some of the reasons for the
"tense" relations with US this year which Islamabad says it is
trying to put back on track.
Pakistan foreign office spokesperson Abdul Basit admitted
that its relations with the US remained tense and experienced
ups and down during the current year due to some incidents
including the American military's unilateral raid to kill
Osama bin Laden and the last month's US-led NATO attack on
border posts that killed 24 soldiers.
While giving a review of foreign relations during 2011,
Basit said that the killing of two nationals by an American
official Raymond Davis in the city of Lahore in February also
badly affected bilateral relationship.
Davis was a CIA contractor, who was later freed after
agreement was reached to compensate the families of the slain
Pakistanis - in what is known as "blood money".
Refuting the impression that Pakistan and US are not on
talking terms, the spokesman said, "We are on speaking terms
with US and are trying to put our relations back on track".
The spokesman said Parliamentary Committee on National
Security is reviewing Pak-US relations and Prime Minister
Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that its recommendations would be
presented to joint session of the parliament for final
approval on the issue of revisiting the relations with US.
Basit said Pakistan wants good relations with the US based
on "mutual respect and dignity" adding that there will be no
compromise on national integrity and sovereignty.
PTI
First Published: Thursday, December 29, 2011, 22:57