Pakistan - Envoy Meeting to redefine US-Pak Ties

ISLAMABAD, Dec 12: Pakistani envoys in major capitals around the world at their foreign policy review talks here on Monday worked at identifying different elements of ties with the United States and Nato that need to be redefined.

The 15 envoys at the end of their twoday deliberations will come up with a set of recommendations that will form the basis of future relationship with the US.

Notwithstanding the publicly-stated broad scope of the discussions `deliberating on different aspects of country`s foreign policy` it was evident from the agenda that the proceedings were USspecific.

Ambassador-designate to the US Sherry Rehman, who played a key role throughout the conference, will unveil the recommendations at the end of the conference.

`We want peaceful, positive and balanced relations with the US based on mutual respect and mutual interest as no relationship can be sustained for long if it is one-sided,` said an ambassador whilesharing the essence of the day-long discussions which continued late into the night.

Explaining the purpose of the exercise, which is quite rare in the country`s foreign policy formulation process, the ambassador said it would help reorient the policy to be closely linked with security and development requirements.

The ambassadors were briefed by Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Finance Minister Hafeez Sheikh and ISI chief Lt-Gen Shuja Pasha before they set about their work spanning over three working sessions. Later in the night a drafting committee, based on the working sessions, started framing the proposals.

The committee, headed by Sherry Rehman, comprises ambassadors Khalid Khattak (Russia), Zamir Akram (Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva), Jalil Abbass Jilani (EU, Brussels), Masood Khan (China), Masood Khalid, Sohail Mehmood (Tokyo) and Tehmina Janjua (Italy).The recommendations will be presented to the Parliamentary Committee on National Security, which has been tasked with the review process. These will then be tabled in a joint session of parliament, along with inputs from the parliamentary committee.

The review process was initiated after the recent denouement in ties with the US following Nato air strikes on two army posts which killed 24 soldiers on Nov 26.

In a retaliatory move, the government blocked the Nato supply route, boycotted the Bonn conference on Afghanistan and got the Shamsi airbase, once used for drone operations, vacated.

The United States has expressed its desire to get past the incident by complying with the deadline given by Pakistan for vacating the base and agreeing to expedite the inquiry into the attacks which the government insists were deliberate. The Pakistani claim is, however, denied by the US and Nato. Both have termed the incident unfortunate.