Gilani hopeful of moving forward

Lahore, May 30, 2011 (PTI)





Hillary warned against repeat of Abbottabad, says Pakistan Prime Minister



Pakistan is hopeful of moving forward through dialogue with India as responsible nations resolve their outstanding issues through talks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told journalists here on Sunday.



"I personally have very good relations with the Indian leadership. Responsible nations believe in talks and dialogue and I hope we will move forward through the talks."



Pakistan\'s ties with India were hit by the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks but were now improving, he said. "The relations between the two countries remained suspended for a while after the Mumbai attacks but when I met with [India\'s] leadership in Thimphu, they started improving."



"We are also engaged in talks with India on the Siachen issue," he said, referring to the next round of talks, on the military standoff on the Himalayan glacier, to be held in New Delhi from Monday.



Asked about Pakistan\'s soil being used for terrorist attacks on other countries, he said: "We have ensured that our soil is not used for terror attacks in any country. Both the military and political leadership are on the same page on this issue.



"Let me make it clear that we will not allow anyone to use our territory for terror attacks in other countries. We have lost 36,000 people in the war on terror and I want the elimination of terrorists from my soil to make my country peaceful."



CIA-ISI relations



Relations between the CIA and Pakistan\'s powerful spy agency ISI, strained by recent events including the killing of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in a U.S. raid, have now been repaired, Mr. Gilani said.



"In the backdrop of recent incidents, relations between the CIA and the Inter-Services Intelligence [ISI] were strained but now they stand repaired," he said.



Both spy agencies had a decade-long relation of intelligence cooperation and it could not be damaged by one or two incidents, Mr. Gilani said.



Mr. Gilani said he had made it clear to the U.S. that Pakistan did not want a repeat of the attack in which Osama was killed. The U.S. unilaterally carried out a commando operation in Abbottabad, 120 km from Islamabad, and killed the al-Qaeda leader on May 2. "We do not want the U.S. to go in for another operation in our country and I have made this clear to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman John Kerry," he said.


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