Senate Chairman declares Tillerson’s statement about Pak ‘unacceptable’

ISLAMABAD: The Chairman of Senate Raza Rabbani on Tuesday declared the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s statement about Pakistan ‘unacceptable.’

During a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday, Tillerson told the Afghan media that he will pressure Islamabad to take action on the support Taliban and other "terrorist organisations" receive in the country.

The US secretary of state had said that Islamabad needs to take a 'clear-eyed view of the situation' that it is confronted with 'in terms of the number of terrorist organisations that find safe haven inside the country.' 

“His [Tillerson’s] statement seems like that of a viceroy’s before they visit a country,” Rabbani said in a Senate session, adding that the US secretary of state's tone was 'inappropriate.'

He also said that Tillerson must acquaint himself with the Parliament’s resolution on Pak-US relations.

“It appears that the US secretary of state has put forward some conditions to the prime minister,” he said. “The foreign minister should share these conditions in the Senate briefing tomorrow.”

Tillerson is meeting Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi after arriving earlier in Islamabad as part of his tour to South Asia and the Gulf region.

The meeting is being attended by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa, DG ISI Lt General Naveed Mukhtar, Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal and Defence Minister Khurram Dastagir.

According to a statement by the US State Department on October 19, Tillerson will meet with senior Pakistani leaders to discuss matters related to the bilateral relations between the two countries.