In Pakistan US drone strike victim’s family push for justice

General Raheel emphasised the USA army to target the Taliban hideouts in Afghanistan in order to make the efforts being taken to wipe-out terrorism in the region as fruitful.

“The army chief reiterated Pakistan’s resolve not to allow hostile intelligence agencies’ efforts, especially RAW [the Indian intelligence agency] and NDS [Afghan intelligence], of fomenting terrorism”, the army statement added.

According to Foreign Office spokesman, the adviser conveyed a strong message to the USA that the May 21 drone strike in Balochistan was not only a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and breach of the principles of the UN Charter but has also vitiated the bilateral ties.

“All stakeholders need to understand Pakistan’s challenges with regard to porous border, inter-tribal linkages and decades-old presence of over 3 million refugees”.

The anti-U.S. rhetoric came as the USA special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan visited Islamabad for the first time since last month’s killing of Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour in a drone strike in western Pakistan.

The perpetually oscillating Pak-US relationship is once again at low as reflected by the Congressional restriction on financing of F-16 fighter jet’s sale from Foreign Military Financing programme, due to which Pakistan lost the opportunity to buy the jets, the paper said.

Pakistani authorities contend that Mansoor had been about to agree to join peace talks between the warring sides in Afghanistan at the time he was killed.

The army chief reaffirmed the need for continuing harmonised efforts against terrorists and effective border management as ways to regional peace and stability.

Pakistan’s foreign secretary Aizaz Ahmed Chaudhry and US Ambassador to Pakistan, David Hale were also present at the meeting. The foreign affairs advisor said that the drone attack in Balochistan has damaged the Afghanistan peace process.

Pakistan has encountered many difficulties in trying to arrange peace talks between the Taliban and the Kabul government, Aziz said, in part because there is “no unanimity of views” within Afghanistan on whether Kabul should engage in peace talks with the Taliban.

These steps would also help to promote better relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan and reduce mistrust.

Peter Lavoy said that US President Obama was committed to improving relations with Pakistan as emphasized during Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif’s visit to Washington in October 2015, the statement said.