Pak admits US hasn't been told in 'explicit terms' to review drone policy |
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Lahore, May 30ANI: In the first admission that the Pakistan government has not been telling the US in clear words to call off the drones attacks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has said that he has told Obama administration officials in 'implicit terms' that they should review their drone policy. Talking about his recent interaction with the US officials, including US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen, Gilani said that Pakistan was of the firm opinion that the attacks by the unmanned aircrafts were counter-productive, as they have thwarted his government's efforts to isolate local tribes from the Taliban. The Pakistan government has long been accused of approving US drone strikes secretly, while condemning them publicly. Earlier, a diplomatic cable unveiled by the whistle-blower website WikiLeaks had revealed that in a meeting on January 22, 2008 with US CENTCOM Commander Admiral William J. Fallon, Pakistan Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani had requested the Americans to provide "continuous Predator coverage of the conflict area" in South Waziristan where the army was conducting operations against militants. The meeting report sent back to Washington by the then US Ambassador Anne Patterson on February 11, 2008, said that Admiral Fallon "regretted that he did not have the assets to support this request", but offered trained US Marines known as JTACs to coordinate air strikes for Pakistani infantry forces on ground. ANI Posted by aniin on Tuesday May 31 reply Comments |
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