Pakistan made it clear to the United States of America that no foreign forces would be tolerated on Pakistani soil and there will be no compromise on the sovereignty of Pakistan, said Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi here on Tuesday.
"Pakistan and the US are partners in the war on terror and there is no other way but to trust and respect each other. Pakistan does not want a blank cheque from the US and will not issue a blank cheque to the US as it is two-way traffic," Qureshi said while addressing a joint news conference with Richard Holbrooke, Special Envoy of the US President on Pakistan and Afghanistan and Admiral Mike Mullen, Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Qureshi said terms of engagement between the two countries are clear to fight the war on terror and to bring peace in Afghanistan, but mutual respect and trust is the bottom line. Implementation of the strategy on which both sides have agreement is only way forward, he added.
Talking on the bilateral meeting with the US officials, Qureshi said the meeting was very frank, candid and they discussed all the aspects including new policy announced by President Obama recently.
It was decided to hold a trilateral meeting in Washington in the first week of May, in which military and civilian leadership of Pakistan, the United States and Afghanistan will participate, Qureshi said.
He said they also have preliminary discussions on the implementation stage of the new policy of Obama administration for Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Foreign Minister said that Pakistan and the US need to bridge gaps to enhance trust for meeting the common challenges they are facing in the region. "We have discussed the issue of drone attacks on Pakistani soil, but there is a gap between Pakistan and the US on this issue and Pakistan wants to bridge this gap through continued talks," Qureshi said, adding that there are differences over the issue as the US officials think they are achieving their key targets through drone attacks.
"There are common threats to both the countries and we have to sit together to overcome these challenges," he said, adding that Pakistan is the country most affected by terrorism.
He said he also discussed defence and terrorism issues with the US officials. He said that the US recognises the sacrifices rendered by Pakistan in the war against terror. "It also accepted our stance that no foreign forces will be allowed to operate inside Pakistan," he said.
To a question, he said Pakistan will not allow any foreign force to land on its soil and carry out operations as it is totally unacceptable. He hoped that the meeting of Friends of Democratic Pakistan being held in Tokyo will extend full support to us adding that Pakistan does not need only financial support but it expects political support from its friends. He appreciated the remarks of the US president Barack Obama for engaging Muslim world with respect and giving full respect to Islam.
The extremism and terrorism are common threats and challenges for both Pakistan and the United States and it is need of hour to have joint, common and continued efforts to meet these challenges, said Richard Holbrooke while addressing the press conference.
"The US wants to have continued engagements with Pakistan to deal the menace of extremism and terrorism," Holbrooke said.
He said Pakistan and the United States have common interests and common enemy. "We have to move forward while learning lessons from the past," he said.
He expressed hope that the forthcoming trilateral meeting in Washington would pave the way for enhancing co-operation to bring peace and stability in the region. He said that his country believes that the Pak-US interests run in parallel, they have common enemy, common challenges and a common task to overcome these challenges.
He said it has been decided to set up Secretariat of the Friends of Pakistan in the Foreign Office in Islamabad under the leadership of the Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi.
Speaking on the occasion, Admiral Mike Mullen said that the US has long-term commitment with Pakistan and intends to generate trust that is vital to achieve the objectives in the region. He said the United States would continue engagements with Pakistan listen to its leadership and the people to build trust and get success.
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