Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar said on Wednesday that the government had not deviated from any parliamentary resolution by restoring NATO supplies to Afghanistan.
She was holding a press briefing after the federal cabinet’s formal approval of the Defence Committee’s decision to restore the ground supply routes. The foreign minister said that the US had formally tendered an unconditional apology to Pakistan over the deaths of 24 Pakistani soldiers, who died in a US air raid on the Salala checkpost last year. She said that Pakistan was not engaged in any “secret deal” with the US for reopening the key supply routes, adding that Pakistan had blocked the supplies for almost eight months “only to have its principled stance accepted”. On Tuesday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that she was sorry for the loss of life in a US air raid last year. “We are sorry for the losses suffered by the Pakistani military. We are committed to working closely with Pakistan and Afghanistan to prevent this from ever happening again,” Clinton had said. Khar said that the US had been given the message to not cross the red line again. She said that although NATO supply route had been restored, but a super power had to “back down.” Pakistan will continue talks with the US over drone attacks, she said.
No secret deal with the US, seriously: Khar
