'Pak-US relationship to be based on trust, mutual respect'

Pakistan

'Pak-US relationship to be based on trust, mutual respect'

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Ambassador Sherry Rehman to work for re-alignment of Pak-US relationship.

07 February,2012 06:47 am

Pakistani ambassador to United States, Sherry Rehman has said Monday that Pakistan-US engagement has to be reinvented on the basis of parliamentary review regarding the current status of relationship between the two countries.She was referring to the Pakistani parliaments strategic review of relations with US following the back-to-back controversies that intensified after the November 26 Nato airstrike on Salala checkpost in Mohmand that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers.Sherry, a former member of Pakistani parliament before taking-up this assignment, said that the current phase of mistrust would not help either side. She hoped that both sides would strive to build a future relationship on the basis of mutual trust, interest and respect.The special envoy of United States for Pakistan and Afghanistan, Ambassador Marc Grossman, also agreed with the assessment of Ambassador Rehman and her views on the importance of Pak-US relationship. He said that both countries have a lot of shared interest to build upon and move forward.The two countries, Pakistan and United States, need to cooperate at this critical time, he said while assuring of the American administrations intent in this regard. The US administration looks forward to the parliamentary review recommendations besides working with Ambassador Rehman on taking the bilateral relationship forward, he suggested.Sherry Rehman was attending a luncheon meeting at renowned Pakistani-American social worker and ambassador-at-large, Riffat Mahmoods residence that was also attended by Congressman Jim Moran, high-ranking US administration officials, senior diplomats and leaders of Pakistani-American community.Riffat Mahmood welcomed ambassador Rehman and assured that the Pakistani community would extend its full cooperation to the new ambassador. We will support Sherry Rehman in the realization of the objective she has been assigned, he stressed.It may be mentioned here that Ambassador Rehman, speaking at a get-together with Pakistani media last week, had expressed her desire to work closely with Pakistani-American community and forge a partnership with them to project the case of Pakistan. The event at Riffat Mahmood, one of the most well-connected Pakistanis in Washington, DC, was perhaps the starting point of that agenda.- Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News correspondent in Washington, DC