ISLAMABAD: Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took
politicians, that matter including the opposition leader, into
confidence on the ‘actions’ according to her were essential to be taken,
preferably jointly, in days.
“We have no choice but to work
together against extremism until it ends,” officials privy to the
meeting said quoting Secretary of State as telling the politicians. She
held a detailed meeting with six key politicians at Ambassador Cameron
Munter’s residence adjacent to the Embassy compound at the end of her
two-day visit.
“I need recognition of the areas of agreement and
my visit is to convey the importance of our relationship,” she added
while talking to the politicians including Speaker National Assembly Dr
Fahmida Mirza, and Opposition Leader Chaudhry Nisar Ali. Other
politicians that shared this piece of luck were ANP’s Asfandyar Wali,
MQM’s Dr Farooq Sattar, PML Likeminded Saleem Saifullay, and Dr Abdul
Malik, BNP.
The officials told Online on condition of anonymity
that the Secretary of State helped them (the politicians) to understand
why strong, consolidated, and joint actions against militants were
urgent now. She described respective actions on both sides even
separately but with shared intelligence as an example of accelerating
work together, the officials added.
Answering questions
especially raised by the Opposition Leader, the US Secretary of state
reiterated that what she had already said in all her meetings that US
respects Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Asked whether this statement
“US respects Pakistan’s sovereignty” could be taken as assurance that
there would not be any unilateral action like the one in May this year,
the officials said, these were two different things.
Neither
tough nor soft, the Secretary of State was here to convey the message
that “our bilateral relations are important and we have invested a lot
in them and have worked together for long,” the officials said.
According
to the officials, Clinton told politicians as she did to others in her
earlier meetings that Pakistan, and US together required to take certain
actions against extremists, earlier the better now. Online
