ISLAMABAD: Pakistan has refused to bow down before US pressure of “Do More”in bilateral talks with the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and MilitaryChief.
Pakistan Prime Minister, the Army Chief and the Foreign Minister told thevisiting dignitaries that the relations will have to move with mutualinterests rather than one way traffic.
Pakistan told the United States that mutual interests of the both thecountries need to be considered in bilateral relations.
Pakistan would not bow down only for Washington’s interests, diplomaticsources have revealed.
Pakistan conveyed so during a meeting between Prime Minister Imran Khan andUS Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at the PM House in Islamabad. The meetingalso had Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Chief of Army Staff GeneralQamar Javed Bajwa and others in presence.
According to diplomatic sources, US officials reiterated the demand of “domore” at the meeting, however, Pakistani leadership presented its stance ina comprehensive manner.
The US delegation led by Secretary Pompeo reached the US Embassy inIslamabad after meeting with PM Khan, the sources said. from where thedelegates left for airport after a while.
The US secretary of state and others then left for India from IslamabadWednesday evening.
Upon arrival in Islamabad, Pompeo held talks with Foreign Minister ShahMehmood Qureshi.
Pompeo, who was accompanied by Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of StaffGeneral Joseph Dunford and a four-member delegation, was received byQureshi upon reaching the Foreign Office from Nur Khan Airbase.
During the talks at the FO, bilateral, regional and international issueswere discussed.
FM Qureshi underscored the need to reset bilateral ties on the basis ofmutual trust and respect, the FO said regarding the talks.
Safeguarding Pakistan’s national interests will remain supreme priority, itadded.
Earlier this afternoon, Pompeo landed in Islamabad and was received byofficials of the Foreign Ministry.
This is the first high-level visit from Washington since the PakistanTehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government assumed office.
Pompeo is also expected to call on Prime Minister Imran Khan and Army ChiefGeneral Qamar Jawed Bajwa during his brief stay in the capital, diplomaticsources said.
Read Top Stories
He is due to visit India on the next stop of his South Asia tour where heis expected to pile pressure on New Delhi over its purchases of Iranian oiland Russian missile systems in talks with senior Indian officials.
Speaking to the media from his airplane en route to Islamabad, Pompeo saidhe hopes to reset the relations between the two countries.
“We hope that both countries could leave the past behind and begin to makeprogress,” Pompeo said.
“We will have three opportunities to walk through the complexity that isthis relationship and hopefully begin to make some progress so that we canget back to set of common understandings. So that’s really the verystraightforward objective,” the US secretary of state regarding his visit.
Pompeo also indicated that the Trump administration could release aid toPakistan that was halted earlier this year.
“Pakistan was told this past summer that they weren’t likely to get thatmoney,” the Secretary said.
Stating that the rationale for Pakistan not getting the money is veryclear, he said, “It’s that we haven’t seen the progress that we need to seefrom them.”
“And the very reason for this trip is to try and articulate what it is ourexpectation is, the things that they can do, the things that they expect usto do, and see if we can’t find a path forward together,” he upheld.
Further, Pompeo stressed on Pakistan’s assistance and help to resolveissues related to stability in Afghanistan.
“We need Pakistan to seriously engage to help us get to the reconciliationwe need in Afghanistan,” he said and mentioned General Nicholson andGeneral Miller having the same opinion on the issue.
Pakistanis have “important interests, security interests in Afghanistan tomake sure they get the issues at their border right, and we need theirhelp”, Pompeo said.
He was also hopeful that his trip could convince the new government inPakistan to provide the assistance for reconciliation in Afghanistan.
Pompeo said that the eventual result of working together could mean the aidto Pakistan could revive. “If that arises again, I am confident we’llpresent to the US president the rationale for that, and then something likethat might make sense,” the US secretary of state said.
