US assures no drone strikes during Pak-Taliban peace talks: Sartaj Aziz
- November 22, 2013, 2:08 pm
- National News
- 50 Views
ISLAMABAD, Nov 20 (INP): Prime Minister’s Advisor on National Security and Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz has said the US has assured Pakistan it will not carry out any drone strike during proposed peace talks between Pakistan government and Taliban.
Sartaj Aziz revealed it at a meeting of Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, presided over by Senator Haji Adeel.
He said that the United States has assured Pakistan that missile strikes would not be carried out inside the tribal region of Pakistan during the planned peace talks of Pakistani government and Taliban insurgents.
He said a three-member committee was to meet Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud the day he was killed in US missile strike earlier this month.
Mehsud, along with at least four other militants, was killed when a US drone targeted his car in the North Waziristan. He was one of the most wanted and feared men in Pakistan with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, leading an insurgency from the Taliban stronghold.
On Nov 2, Pakistani’s Foreign Office summoned US ambassador Richard Olson and denounced the killing, saying that it has “derailed planned peace talksâ€.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf chief Imran Khan vowed to block US supply lines into Afghanistan in retaliation as resolutions were tabled in KPK and Punjab assemblies in support of his demand.
