ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Friday said Pakistan could no longer rely on any assurances given by the United States as it had proven that it does not want peace in Pakistan.
Speaking to media representatives outside Parliament House, Nisar said he failed to understand why Sartaj Aziz, Adviser to the Prime Minister on National Security and Foreign Affairs, developed confidence in the US on its assurances relating to drone strikes. He added that the US had also wanted to approach him with “such fairy tales”, however he had flatly refused to entertain them.
The interior minister further said that given the recent drone attacks in Pakistan, how could the US still be regarded as a friend of Pakistan.
He said Pakistan’s honour and dignity were most important to him, and added that 12 years of financial assistance from the US hadn’t brought any positive change in the country.
The minister added that Pakistan would have to choose between its own dignity or its reliance on the US, as America has clearly proven that it did not want the peace talks between the government and the militants to progress.
Nisar’s statement comes a day after six people, including prominent Afghan militant commanders, were killed in a US drone strike that struck Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Hangu district. Thursday’s was the second strike to take place within Pakistan’s settled areas, the first one being in the district of Bannu in Nov 2008.
The attack in Hangu came a day after Aziz in a briefing to the Senate Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs had said the US had assured Pakistan that no drone strikes would be carried out during the government’s peace talks with militants.