Gilani stresses new rules of engagement between Pakistan, US

Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani said on Wednesday that Pakistan wanted to take up three issues with the United States that encompassed the rules of future engagement between the two countries.
Addressing a meeting of Afghan and Pakistani parliamentary delegations held under the auspices of the Pakistan Institute of Legislative Development and Transparency at Prime Minister’s House, Gilani said the US must guarantee the sovereignty of Pakistan, no Abbottabad-like unilateral action in future and if any credible and actionable information was available, it should be shared with Pakistan for action.
He said further that drone attacks, which caused collateral damage, must be stopped as they were grossly detrimental to the government’s efforts to isolate the terrorists from the local population. He said Pakistan cut off NATO supplies, got Shamsi air base vacated and boycotted the Bonn Conference in the aftermath of the NATO attack on a Pakistan Army checkpost on November 26. The prime minister said Pakistan wanted a sovereign, independent, prosperous and stable Afghanistan, which was in Pakistan’s interest. Pakistan was part of the solution and not part of the problem, he added. He lamented that assassination of Professor Burhanuddin Rabbani, head of the Afghan High Peace Council, and said it was a severe setback to peace and reconciliation efforts as Rabbani was a great supporter of friendship between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The premier accepted the suggestion of one of the co-chairmen of the delegation to inaugurate the Engineering University being built in Balkh with the assistance of Pakistan. The prime minister asked the Afghan parliamentarians to express his best wishes to his “brother” Afghan President Hamid Karzai.
Earlier, co-chairman of the Afghan parliamentary delegation and member of the Wolesi Jirga Abdul Latif Pedram thanked the prime minister for inviting the delegation to Prime Minister’s House, which provided them with an opportunity to meet him. He said Pakistan was very important for Afghanistan. He also thanked the government of Pakistan for financial and technical assistance in infrastructure, education and health. Senator Besmellah Afghanmal, member of the Meshrano Jirga and co-chairman of the delegation, extended best wishes to the prime minister on behalf of President Karzai. He recalled the statement of President Karzai that if Pakistan was attacked either by the US or India, his country would stand by Pakistan. Senator Besmellah underlined the need to facilitate transit trade between Karachi and Kabul. He expressed the hope that relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan would be strengthened with the passage of time.