US drone strike attack on sovereignty: Pakistan tells US delegation

By
Web Desk
|
US drone strike attack on sovereignty: Pakistan tells US delegation

ISLAMABAD: A five-member US delegation reached Pakistan on Friday and met with Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz as relations between the two countries hit a low after a US drone strike killed Taliban Leader Mullah Mansour in Balochistan.

The meeting which continued for 75 minutes discussed regional security issues and a US drone strike in Noshki, a foreign office statement confirmed.

In the meeting Pakistan expressed its reservation over the drone strike in Noshki. The drone was an attack on sovereignty of Pakistan and violation of UN charter, the foreign office said.

Future drone strike will affect Pak-US relationship, the statement added. The foreign office maintained that the drone strike damaged the Afghan peace process.

The US delegation said that they would make efforts to improve the strained relationship. “The United States is determined for better relationship with Pakistan,” Senior Director for South Asian Affairs at the National Security Council Peter Lavoy who led the US delegation said. The delegation also included US Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan Richard Olson.

The Pakistan delegation was led by Sartaj Aziz.

Sartaj Aziz earlier said that the drone attack has damaged the peace process in Afghanistan and the matter would be brought to fore in the high level meeting.

The delegation during its stay will meet with top civilian and army leadership of Pakistan.

The US team will hold important meetings with officials including Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz, Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General Raheel Sharif and National Security Adviser (NSA) to the Prime Minister Lieutenant General (retd) Nasser Khan Janjua.

With senior foreign policy and military officials privately questioning if the US truly desires a stable Pakistan, the visiting delegation will have perhaps the toughest meetings between the two sides since 2011, when the Raymond Davis episode, Osama bin Laden raid and the Salala checkpost attack caused relations to plummet.