Washington should offer apology to Islamabad: Senator

Senator Dianne Feinstein, Chairperson of the US Senate Intelligence Committee, urged the United States to apologize from Pakistan, saying that mistakes were made on both sides.

While speaking during a hearing of Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defence, she called upon the Obama administration to apologize to Islamabad for Salala check-posts attack on November 26, 2011 that killed 24 Pakistani troops.

US Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta and Chairman and Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Martin Dempsey were also testified in the hearing.

She noted, “I understand that mistakes were made on both sides in November 26 incident. ISAF commander, Gen. John Allen has identified 6-7 steps to rectify the problem”.

She also referred to a meeting of US Senators with General Allen, in which the latter took the legislators into confidence with regards to the events that led to the Salala attack.

She was of the opinion that issues of GLOC (Ground Line of Communication) could be resolved with civilian acceptance of mistakes by the US. She was speaking about the land route which Islamabad blocked after the NATO supply line.

She added, “The US administration would do well to apologize for its mistakes in the firing incident and this would also help in the reopening of GLOCs. The national security of the United States will be better served with a positive relationship with Pakistan”.

While responding to Senator Dianne Feinstein US Secretary of Defense, Leon Panetta, termed the bilateral ties complicated but important. In his view, it was a complicated a necessary relationship, by virtue of our security needs in that area.

He stated that although mistakes were made on both sides, the issue of apology was also one of the points the two sides discussed.

He clarified, “We offered condolences, but that is not the only issue now, they are asking for something else too. GLOCs are still under negotiations, and discussions continue as to how we can resolve it”.

The US Defence Secretary also clarified that the blockage of land routes from Pakistan had forced US to rely on expensive northern network, saying that it was incurring 100 million dollars per month additional.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Jun 14 2012. Filed under USA. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.