Islamabad: Pakistan is reassessing its
relations with the US and NATO to redefine the terms for
cooperation with them after a cross-border NATO air strike
that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday.
"There had been a lot of ups and downs in the
relationship with the US and we really want to improve our
relationship," Gilani told reporters on the sidelines of an
official function here.
The issue of the NATO attack on Pakistani military border
posts on November 26 has been referred to the Parliamentary
Committee on National Security, which has been asked to assess
the situation and give its recommendations to the government,
he said.
The parliamentary panel "will formulate recommendations
for the joint session of parliament on how to improve or how
to revisit our relationship and also cooperation in future
with the US, NATO and International Security Assistance Force"
in Afghanistan, Gilani said.
"We are also holding an inquiry into the incident," he
added. Pakistan Army chief Gen Ashfaq Pervez Kiyani met Gilani
to discuss national security issues in the backdrop of the
NATO air strike.
The army chief informed the Prime Minister that his force
had revamped defence capabilities on the Afghan border to
effectively counter the recurrence of any incursion into
Pakistan territory, an official statement said.
Gilani said his government will not "allow a similar
attack on the country’s sovereignty and any attempt in future
will definitely meet the detrimental response".
Earlier in the day, US Ambassador Cameron Munter met
Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar to discuss the "current
status of bilateral relations" after the NATO attack.
Khar remarked that relations between the two countries
"must be based on mutual respect".
In an apparent reference to the NATO air strike, Khar
said "recent incidents have led to a re-evaluation" of
Pakistan's terms of engagement with the US.
Munter assured Khar of an "early conclusion" to the
investigation into the NATO attack and said the US would work
with the Pakistan government to "normalise the relationship at
the earliest."
PTI
First Published: Saturday, December 10, 2011, 00:22