Drone strike that killed Taliban chief vitiated ties: Pakistan to US

“Adviser Sartaj Aziz spoke with Italian Foreign Minister Paolo Gentilioni to seek support for Pakistan application for NSG membership”.

He also told the delegation that U.S. drone strike in Balochistan has caused a huge damage to mutual trust between the two countries and this kind of accessions would not be tolerated in future.

The Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif has said that blaming Pakistan for instability in Afghanistan is unfortunate, and said that Pakistan continues to target all terror outfits without any discrimination.

The army chief urged that all “stakeholders” needed to understand Pakistan’s challenges with regard to the porous border with Afghanistan, inter-tribal linkages and the decades-old presence of over three million refugees.

Intensifying efforts to seek backing for its membership to the Nuclear Suppliers Group (NSG), Pakistan’s top foreign advisor on Friday spoke to the Mexican and Italian foreign ministers – a day after both countries indicated support for India’s bid. But Islamabad believes that the Congress was prompted to act due to Indian lobbying and pressure.

Raising the demand of targeting Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) and Mullah Fazlullah in their bases in Afghanistan, the army chief reiterated Pakistan’s resolve not to allow hostile intelligence agencies’ efforts, especially India’s Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) of fomenting terrorism.

Mullah Mansoor was killed in the remote Noshki district on May 21 after he reportedly entered Pakistan from Iran.

Recalling that in QCG’s fifth meeting on May 18 decided peace negotiations to be the only option for a political settlement, Secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry emphasized that this would require collective efforts on the part of all QCG members to promote lasting peace in Afghanistan.

On the occasion, Dr. Peter Lavoy, while conveying President Obama’s good wishes for the PM Nawaz Sharif’s speedy recovery, said that the United States president was committed to improving relations with Pakistan as emphasized during his (Sharif) visit to Washington in October 2015.