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As ties with US sour, Pak cosies up to China, Saudi Arabia
Pakistan is pulling out all stops to offset rising tensions with the US and possible economic and military sanctions by reaching out to its closest allies, Saudi Arabia and China. Days after the stinging accusation that the ISI was backing Afghan insurgents, Islamabad tried to please Beijing by vowing to root out Uighur militants holed up in its territory and staged war games with Saudi Arabia, besides sending and receiving top intelligence officials from the Gulf kingdom."China's enemy is Islamabad's enemy," interior minister Rehman Malik told visiting Chinese vice-prime minister Meng Jianzhu on Tuesday, and vowed to "strike very hard against" Uighur militants based in his country. Alongside, ISI chief Shuja Pasha was dispatched to Riyadh to hold talks with Saudi officials. Malik said Pakistan had killed and extradited several Uighur militants responsible for attacks in China's western Xinjiang province. The Uighur rebels are known to be receiving training in Pakistan's lawless tribal areas. Earlier, Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said the two countries were true friends and that they count on each other after. "Thank you once again...for (the) supportive statement in favour of Pakistan's sovereignty and integrity." Posted by: tipper 2011-09-28 |
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