Pak warns US not to take it for granted or treat it as a client state
March 19th, 2011 - 1:55 pm ICT by ANIIslamabad, Mar 19(ANI): Pakistan has demanded an apology and explanation from the United States over Thursday’s drone strike which killed around 44 people in the country’s northwest tribal region.
Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir summoned US Ambassador to Pakistan Cameron Munter to the Foreign Office (FO), and termed the attack on a gathering of tribal elders in Datta Khel region of North Waziristan as “unacceptable” and “a flagrant violation of humanitarian norms and law”.
“Pakistan should not be taken for granted nor treated as a client state,” the Daily Times quoted Bashir, as having told Munter.
The ministry’s spokeswoman, Tehmina Janjua, said in the statement, that Munter was informed in categorical terms that with this incident “it was evident that the fundamentals of our relations need to be revisited”.
“The Foreign Secretary has conveyed this strong condemnation to the US ambassador and has demanded an apology and explanation. It was for the White House and the State Department to hold back those who have been trying to veer Pakistan-US relationship away from the track,” Janjua said.
Janjua also said that Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, Hussain Haqqani, had been asked to make a similar strong protest to the State Department.
Meanwhile, Munter said that he understood that Islamabad’s protest was not a ‘pro forma demarche’ (a formality), and that he would swiftly convey its message to the highest levels of the US administration. (ANI)
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Tags: ambassador, apology, bashir, cameron, categorical terms, condemnation, drone, flagrant violation, fo, foreign office, formality, janjua, norms, north waziristan, pakistan, salman, spokeswoman, state department, tribal elders, white house