Obama links Pak sovereignty to US security
Muhammad Saleh Zaafir
SEOUL: While Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday explicitly said the decisions taken by parliament would be followed in letter and spirit, US President Barack Obama said he hoped Pakistan’s parliament would take a balanced approach and also respect US security needs.
The two leaders expressed these views in their post-meeting remarks here at the Coax Centre on the margins of the second Nuclear Security Summit (NSS). The meeting was the highest level of interaction between Pakistan and the United States after the Salala attack on November 26.
The meeting was requested by the United States and was one of the rare occasions on which the US had itself asked for such a meeting on the fringes of an international event.
President Obama also had separate meetings with his Chinese and Russian counterparts earlier in the day but the time allocated for the two meetings was 30 and 35 minutes. The meeting between Gilani and Obama turned out to be the biggest sideline event of the NSS as leaders and delegates attending the summit were keen to learn about the outcome.
President Obama shook hands with Prime Minister Gilani with a fair amount of warmth and exchanged formal complimentary words with him initially. The US president sounded cheerful and expressed hope that his country and Pakistan could arrive at a ‘balanced approach’ to relations.
“There have been times – I think we should be candid – over the last several months where those relations have had periods of strains,” Obama said at the outset of the meeting with Gilani. “But I welcome the fact that the Parliament of Pakistan is reviewing, after some extensive study, the nature of this relationship.”
Obama said his expectation was that as a result of the Pakistani review and discussions in the United States, “that we can achieve the kind of balanced approach that respects Pakistan’s sovereignty but also respects our concerns with respect to our national security and our needs to battle terrorists who have targeted us in the past.”
PM Gilani appreciated that President Obama had acknowledged the need to respect Pakistani sovereignty and said his government was committed to fighting against extremism. He also said it was important to maintain stability in both Pakistan and Afghanistan. Beyond the meeting Tuesday, there remains much work to be done to mend ties between Washington and Islamabad, he said.
While appreciating Pakistan’s efforts for fighting terrorism and extremism, President Obama said Pak-US relations were important to achieve success in this war. He said his country fully recognised and admitted the sovereignty of Pakistan but also needed that the security of the US should also be protected from terrorism. “Pakistan and the United States are allies in this war against terror and working together as they have mutual interest in fighting it internationally and in their regions,” he said.
Referring to the parliamentary process on the issue, President Obama said the US would give due respect and honour tp future relations between Pakistan and US. He said both the countries needed to work together for the security and peace in the region. “Stability and security in Afghanistan is important and requires joint efforts in the region.,” he said, appreciating Pakistan’s participation in the NSS.
Prime Minister Gilani in his remarks said that Pakistan had been working hard for security and safety in the region. “A stable, secure, sovereign, and peaceful Afghanistan is in the interest of Pakistan and the region,” he added. The prime minister said Pakistan wanted to see stability in Afghanistan as it would ensure stability in Pakistan as well. He assured that Pakistan wanted to improve its relations with US and mentioned the parliamentary process going on in Pakistan to revisit the rules of engagement. The PM expressed reservations about the resolution in the US House of Representatives on Balochistan and also asked for membership for Pakistan of the Nuclear Suppliers Group.
President Obama said: “We have been working together because we both are interested in a safe and secure Afghanistan and safe and secure region that will benefit Pakistan and also the entire world”.
He said in last several months Pak-US relations had experienced some strains, but he welcomed that Pakistan’s parliament was reviewing the process, adding that the nature of these relationship was important for both countries.
The US president said this process was important for the dialogue process and hoped “we can achieve a balanced approach.”
He said: “We respect Pakistan’s sovereignty, but it should also respects our concerns with respect to our national security and our needs to battle terrorists who have targeted us in the war.” He appreciated the prime minister for his efforts to recognise the Afghan-led and Afghan-owned peace process.
Later, Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar told the media that Pakistan did raise the question of drone attacks since they were proving counterproductive. She hinted that when the United States talked of respecting Pakistan’s sovereignty, it did not leave any scope for drone attacks. To a query, she said the present tension regarding relations with the United States triggered by the Salala attack came under discussion during the meeting. “The United States has regretted the gory incident,” she added.
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