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US rejects majority of Pakistan's support fund demands
[Dawn]  The United States has rejected majority of the demands pressed by Pakistain with respect to the coalition support fund claiming them to be unrealistic, DawnNews reported.The US is not only adamant in its refusal to apologise for the Salala border checkpost incident that had resulted in the killings of 24 Pak soldiers in November last year but also cornering Pakistain as punishment for the apology demand. Sources claimed that Pakistain's federal government has decided to pass the burden of the US punishment onto the public and the price of compressed natural gas (CNG) has been increased by 15 to 20 per cent to deal with the impasse. The price hike would be affective from 1st July. US military authorities rejected Pakistain's request seeking USD 2.8 billion in respect of the coalition support fund stating the request as 'unrealistic'. Both the countries have held more than half a dozen meetings related to the disbursement of the support fund's amount but the issue remains unresolved in face of the rejection by the US. Pak-US relations went into freefall last year. There were hit when a CIA contractor rubbed out two Paks and dented further by an American raid that killed al Qaeda chief the late Osama bin Laden ... who sleeps with the fishes... and by US air strikes in November that killed 24 Pak soldiers. After the air strikes, Pakistain shut its Afghan border to NATO ...the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. A cautionary tale of cost-benefit analysis.... supplies and ordered US staff out of an air base reportedly used as a hub for drones. Seven US drone strikes have been reported since May's Chicago summit, which failed to secure a deal on resuming the supply lines. In March, Pakistain's parliament agreed to reset US relations on condition that Washington apologise for the troops' deaths and end drone attacks on its soil. Pakistain has been incensed by Washington's refusal to apologise for the November air strikes and US officials have so far rejected Pak proposals to charge several thousand dollars for each alliance truck crossing the border. Islamabad, which is understood to have given its tacit approval for attacks on al Qaeda and Taliban targets in the past, has become increasingly vocal in its opposition to the perceived violation of national illusory sovereignty. Despite Pak criticism US officials are believed to consider the drone attacks too useful to stop them altogether. They have argued that drone strikes are a valuable weapon in the war against Islamist cut-thoats. According to an AFP tally, 45 US missile strikes were reported in Pakistain's tribal belt in 2009, the year US President Barack Obama Because I won... took office, 101 in 2010 and 64 in 2011. The New America Foundation think-tank in Washington says drone strikes have killed between 1,715 and 2,680 people in Pakistain in the past eight years. Posted by: Fred 2012-06-04 |
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