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Pakistan to review US ties after 'attack on peace,' says Nisar
[Dawn] Calling the drone strike that killed Pak Taliban chief Hakimullah Mehsud on Friday "an attack on regional peace by America," Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan Saturday said bilateral ties with the US will now be reviewed.Speaking to a presser after concluding a high level meeting at the interior ministry, he vowed to raise the matter at international forums including the United Nations ...where theory meets practice and practice loses... . The minister said that five permanent members of the UN Security Council will also be contacted on the issue. He said an urgent meeting of the Cabinet Committee on National Security (CCNS) has been called to review bilateral cooperation and ties with the US. The meeting is expected to take place in next two to three days upon return of Prime Minister  Nawaz Sharif... served two non-consecutive terms as prime minister, heads the Pakistain Moslem League (Nawaz). Noted for his spectacular corruption, the 1998 Pak nuclear test, border war with India, and for being tossed by General Musharraf... from London, he added. Mehsud, along with at least four other bad boys, was killed when a US drone targeted his car in the North Wazoo tribal area of Pakistain near the Afghan border. Speaking to both local and foreign media today, Nisar said the identity of those killed in the drone strike was irrelevant. "The government of Pakistain does not see this drone attack as an attack on an individual but as an attack on the grinding of the peace processor," he said. The interior minister said a three-member committee, comprising of Islamic holy mans, was scheduled to leave for a meeting with the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistain (TTP) leadership on Saturday morning. Claiming that TTP leadership including Hakimullah was aware of the meeting, he said he had written and telephonic records of recent correspondence between the government and the bad boy outfit. Earlier on Friday, Pak Taliban front man Shahidullah Shahid said the Taliban had "no contact" with the government, a day after Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said a process to initiate peace talks had already begun. Chaudhry Nisar questioned timings of the Hakimullah's killing by the US asking why he was targeted just a day before the talks. "Can this be called supporting peace initiative?" He said the US ambassador was being summoned to serve a demarche and convey formal protest of the government over serious damage done to the dialogue process with Taliban by the drone attack. Posted by: Fred 2013-11-03 |
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