Pakistan denies reopening NATO routes to Afghanistan
January 20th, 2012 - 8:40 am ICT by IANSIslamabad, Jan 19 (IANS) Pakistan’s Foreign Office has denied reports of reopening the NATO supply routes to Afghanistan, and said there was no ultimate decision about it so far.
Addressing a weekly press briefing in Islamabad Thursday, Foreign Office spokesperson Abdul Basit said the conditions for reopening the supply routes have not been decided yet, Xinhua reported.
The supply routes were closed in November last year following an air strike by NATO helicopters, which killed 24 soldiers of the Pakistan Army.
The spokesman said Pakistan has asked the US that special envoy Marc Grossman should put off his visit to Pakistan until the parliamentary review of bilateral relations is completed because the government wants to finish its homework before the arrival of the envoy.
“We don’t hope that Grossman’s visit to Pakistan remains futile,” Basit said.
On Pakistan-US relations, the spokesman said Islamabad wants to develop its relations with Washington on the basis of mutual respect and mutual interests.
The spokesperson said US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and discussed bilateral issues.
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Tags: afghanistan, bilateral issues, bilateral relations, foreign minister, foreign office, helicopters, hillary clinton, homework, islamabad, jan 19, khar, marc grossman, mutual interests, mutual respect, nato, pakistan army, secretary of state, spokesman, spokesperson, xinhua