Islamabad, May 15 (ANI): Amidst growing realisation that it cannot keep the NATO supply routes blocked for long, Pakistan has dropped the clearest hint yet that it might review a decision that has put its relations with the U.S. in a tailspin.
Back-to-back statements by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar have made it abundantly clear that the government is ready to drop its insistence on a formal U.S. apology over the killing of 24 Pakistani troops in the airstrikes on border posts in Salala, reports The Express Tribune.
Khar went a step further by saying that Pakistan wanted to 'move beyond' the Salala incident as it had made its point by keeping the NATO routes shut for almost six months.
"I think we need a closure on that and move on," Khar said after attending a high-powered meeting jointly chaired by President Asif Zardari and Premier Gilani.
"It was important to make a point, and Pakistan has made a point and now we need to move on and go into a positive zone," she added.
This comes after NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen, earlier this week said Pakistan's participation in the Chicago Summit, scheduled for May 20-21, hinges on its decision on the supply route for the alliance's mission in Afghanistan.
Gilani said, "It's not a matter of one, but 43 countries," indicating that by its refusal to lift the blockade, Islamabad would risk its ties with not just the U.S. but all countries of the NATO.
Khar also confirmed that negotiations between Pakistan and the US were heading in the right direction, adding that the issue of unconditional apology for the NATO air strikes was currently being discussed.
"We want to continue to be a facilitator, enabler and not a blocker," she said. (ANI)
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