Pakistan to US: No free lunch anymore

Though realising a little too late, Pakistan has decided not to offer blanket cooperation to the United States because of Washington’s unilateral actions and tightening of economic noose around Islamabad pressing it to do more than what it has already done while keeping the system too loose, enabling a large number of US intelligence operatives to enter the country under the guise of diplomats.
“There’s no such thing as a free lunch (as they say in the US),” a senior official said on Saturday, explaining the Pakistan-US relations in the aftermath of the May 2 Abbottabad operation by the US Navy SEALs and suspension of economic aid to Pakistan after Islamabad restricted free movement of the US diplomats in the country. “Cooperation with Washington will now be businesslike and formal,” he said. Admitting that not only a “loose system” but also the procedural bypass in issuance of visas to the Americans had helped the US in expanding its footprint on Pakistani soil in the form of hundreds of Raymond Davis-like operatives moving freely across the country, the official said that Islamabad had now tightened the visa issuance procedure.
“The US has recently given a list of 80 officials for visas and this list is being scrutinized,” he said, adding that the list was given to ISI chief Lt Gen Ahmed Shuja Pasha during his visit to Washington. “Now, we will decide how many US officials are required and we will keep their presence to a minimum level with a check on their movement,” he added.

About the possibility of allowing the US to open a consulate in Quetta, he categorically said, “No more consulates for the Americans and the Europeans”.
However, he believed that the relation between the US and Pakistan would improve gradually but for now it would largely be on need basis. “It’s not that Pakistan will not get the suspended $800 million aid, we will get this aid but it may take time,” he said, adding that it had also been decided at the highest level that the operations against terrorists would be undertaken without any foreign aid, particularly US assistance, because of the stringent conditions which keep Islamabad under constant pressure.
About what the US officials say behind closed doors and in public, he said it was quite disturbing and “we have expressed our concern through military and governmental channels but they say their media is free and does not spare even the US administration”. But, he said the CIA chief regretted his recent statement which created tension and mistrust between the two sides.
The official said Pakistan could not overlook its relevance in the Afghan peace process as “our irrelevance and isolation will also impact the situation in Afghanistan and this will also not be in our own interest”. “Pakistan always supported a political strategy backed and followed by a military plan.