Omar1984
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ISLAMABAD: There was stony silence from Pakistan as drone strikes continued in North and South Waziristan on Thursday, and publicly at least, neither President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar nor COAS General Ishfaq Parvez Kiyani were heard complaining in their separate meetings with the visiting US Envoy Marc Grossman.
With its credibility-hitting rock bottom, nothing seems to deter the civil and military establishment from keeping the truth from the people of Pakistan with even the opposition not asking tough questions from Prime Minister Gilani s government.
Barely two weeks have passed since the well publicized All Party Conference in which Pakistan s politicians gathered to lend a shoulder to its security forces which had come under unprecedented verbal attacks from the United States.
So, it is all the more surprising that the same security establishment has now with or without taking the Gilani government into confidence agreed that it would no longer demand an end to drone attacks as they have in the past.
Pakistan has denounced the US drone attacks on its territory as unacceptable, reiterating that the strikes were being carried out in violation of the country s sovereignty.
The US Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, recently alleged that while rebuilding ties, Islamabad had stopped demanding an end to the aerial assaults, which are carried out by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on northwestern Pakistan.
When this report was published in the Pakistani media, there was a deafening silence from the Foreign Office and the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), after which both were approached by the media for a comment. As in the past, both the Foreign Office and the ISPR denied James Clapper s statement and said that there was no change in Pakistan s stance on drone attacks.
However, speaking to Western diplomatic sources, The News understands that Pakistan has agreed recently that it would not demand an end to these drone strikes. Even in the past, according to WikiLeaks, Prime Minister Gilani had assured the former American Ambassador Anne Patterson that Pakistan was not against these drone strikes, but publicly it was compelled to condemn them.
It is now for Parliament and the opposition parties to demand the truth from Prime Minister Gilani that is if the security establishment finds it appropriate to share their fresh efforts to rebuild ties with the United States.
Pakistan silent on drone strikes
With its credibility-hitting rock bottom, nothing seems to deter the civil and military establishment from keeping the truth from the people of Pakistan with even the opposition not asking tough questions from Prime Minister Gilani s government.
Barely two weeks have passed since the well publicized All Party Conference in which Pakistan s politicians gathered to lend a shoulder to its security forces which had come under unprecedented verbal attacks from the United States.
So, it is all the more surprising that the same security establishment has now with or without taking the Gilani government into confidence agreed that it would no longer demand an end to drone attacks as they have in the past.
Pakistan has denounced the US drone attacks on its territory as unacceptable, reiterating that the strikes were being carried out in violation of the country s sovereignty.
The US Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, recently alleged that while rebuilding ties, Islamabad had stopped demanding an end to the aerial assaults, which are carried out by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) on northwestern Pakistan.
When this report was published in the Pakistani media, there was a deafening silence from the Foreign Office and the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), after which both were approached by the media for a comment. As in the past, both the Foreign Office and the ISPR denied James Clapper s statement and said that there was no change in Pakistan s stance on drone attacks.
However, speaking to Western diplomatic sources, The News understands that Pakistan has agreed recently that it would not demand an end to these drone strikes. Even in the past, according to WikiLeaks, Prime Minister Gilani had assured the former American Ambassador Anne Patterson that Pakistan was not against these drone strikes, but publicly it was compelled to condemn them.
It is now for Parliament and the opposition parties to demand the truth from Prime Minister Gilani that is if the security establishment finds it appropriate to share their fresh efforts to rebuild ties with the United States.
Pakistan silent on drone strikes
