Pakistan is in a relationship of choice with the US on the basis of mutual interests, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Monday, as she rejected an impression that during Sunday’s meeting, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave an ultimatum to Islamabad to attack Haqqani group militants.
Addressing a press conference, the foreign minister said Pakistan would continue to favour the reconciliation process in Afghanistan and would continue to play its role as a neighbour. “There are some misperceptions about the 3-1/2 hours meeting I had with Secretary Clinton… There were no ultimatums from either side,” she told the reporters. “The relationship between the United States and Pakistan is an important one and no one is a hostage in it,” Hina said, adding, “Pakistan is in it by choice.” Hina described her meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton as “very constructive”, saying they had extensive discussions on “all facets” of US-Pakistan relations. “It went very well,” she said after the three-and-half hour meeting.
The two top diplomats are in New York for the 66th session of the UN General Assembly. The foreign minister, in a brief interaction with reporters, also stressed the importance of “deeper understanding” when her attention was drawn to points of differences between the two sides. She said the foreign ministers of various countries had agreed to help the flood victims of Pakistan.
The foreign minister said there was a complete convergence of interests in counterterrorism goals between Pakistan and the US, as terrorist elements were against the mutual interest of Pakistan, Afghanistan and the US.
Pakistan was committed to rooting out terrorism and was fulfilling its obligations in this regard, Hina said, “but Pakistan acted in its own national interest, not at the behest of someone”.
