Updated on
Summary
Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Friday that Pakistan and the United States (US) should undertake concerted efforts to bridge the trust gap which unfortunately persists with a potential of diluting the common objective of combating terror. The PM said that the Pakistan government was doing its utmost to strengthen cooperation with the US in intelligence sharing and in the fields of defence to root out the menace of terrorism and militancy from its territory. The Prime Minister was talking to US Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and US Senator Jack Read, Member of the Committee who called on him here at the PM Secretariat on Friday. He said that the entire Pakistani nation was working in harmony with synergized efforts to curb the threat of terrorism and extremism. Pakistan expects the friendly countries like US to share with it credible and actionable information rather than indulging in blame game, in order to achieve our shared and common goal of succeeding against militancy, he added. The PM emphasised the importance of rehabilitation and reconstruction activities in the cleared areas while regretting that pledges of assistance to Pakistan towards that end still remained unfulfilled. He said the situation had become further exacerbated under the circumstances as Pakistan was now constrained to divert its development budget towards the war efforts. The Prime Minister stated that the existing support of people of Pakistan for military operations could dissipate unless there was a socio-economic development and rehabilitation of infrastructure in the affected areas.He also added that the US and other economic partners must realize that time was fast running out on addressing the root causes of terror i.e. poverty, illiteracy, hunger disease and un-employment. The Prime Minister underlined the need of a fair and non-discriminatory approach on the part of US in its relations with the regional countries particularly when people and Armed Forces of Pakistan were making unparalleled sacrifices in this war. The Prime Minister informed the US Senators that the Afghan Foreign Minister, who had recently visited Islamabad, had been asked by his government to share with it Afghan governments plans and Pakistan was awaiting the Afghan response to that request. Pakistan, he said, believes that all the ethnic groups in Afghanistan need to be engaged politically to supplement efforts for sustainable stability. Senator Carl Levin and Senator Jack Reed acknowledged the fact that bilateral relations between Pakistan and the US have remained on an upward trajectory and had been significantly strengthened since the installation of democratic government in Pakistan. They commended the Prime Minister for his constructive and pro-active role in pursuing cooperation with the US in the war against terror and normalizing the ties with Afghanistan and India. They assured the Prime Minister that they, in their personal capacities, would continue striving for further strengthening of the intelligence sharing and defence cooperation and better understanding of each other positions. US Ambassador Ms Anne W. Patterson, Minister for Finance Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Minister for Interior Senator A. Rehman Malik, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, Senator Syeda Sughra Imam, Secretaries Defence and Foreign Affairs and other senior officers were present in the meeting.
