Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Kayani called on Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani at the Prime Minister’s House on Friday and discussed with him the progress on contentious issues straining relations between Pakistan and the US.
The arrest of Kashmiri leader Ghulam Nabi Fai by the US authorities has adversely affected trust and cooperation between both allies on the war on terror and despite the recent visit by top US intelligence official James Clapper, who held detailed meetings with ISI chief General Shuja Pasha and IB chief Javed Noor, the Foreign Office strongly protested over the anti-Pakistan campaign in the US.
A source told Pakistan Today that Gilani and Kayani also discussed the deadlock between the two sides on release of a CIA local operative, Dr Shakil Afridi, redeployment of American intelligence officials in Pakistan and operation against al Qaeda and Taliban-linked militants in North Waziristan. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar would also meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today (Saturday) in Indonesia and raise the issue of anti-ISI defamation campaign in the wake of Osama bin Laden killing. She would also apprise her US counterpart of the contradiction that Pakistan sees in the US policy of engaging Islamabad and at the same time supporting a malicious campaign against it. Both Gilani and Kayani also discussed the country’s overall security situation, particularly the ongoing operation against militants in the Tribal Areas.
