| US not meddling in Pak affairs: Holbrooke |
Updated at: 0621 PST, Saturday, January 09, 2010 WASHINGTON – Sami Abrahim: US Special Envoy for Pakistan and Afghanistan Richard Holbrooke has said that although the United States is not intervening in the internal issues of Pakistan, but if asked and if helpful, it will be ready to do so.Talking to a group of Pakistani journalists at the US State Department here on Friday, he categorically said the US supported the elected civilian government in Pakistan. “We are watching with sympathy and support the civilian government in Pakistan,” he added. He said the US had good relations with the Pakistani government, opposition and military. “But we are not intervening, because all sides have said that the US does not need to get involved,” he added. Ambassador Holbrooke gave these comments when asked was he concerned about the situation or fearful of any instability in Pakistan? He said instability anywhere in the world would be a bad scenario. About the Pak-US relations, he said: “Let me say that the relations between the United States and Pakistan are better than what they were a year ago.” He said he had talked to Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi by phone and during his forthcoming visit to Pakistan, he would listen to the concerns of Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani about the extra screening of the Pakistani nationals coming to the United States. He said the US did express its concern about the delay in visa issuance to some US citizens, who wanted to go to Pakistan to help spend aid money. “I have spoken to Ambassador Husain Haqqani and other Pakistani officials on the visa issue and we are working to sort it out appropriately,” Holbrooke added. He said Pakistan faced serious security challenges, because extremists and terrorists were attacking the innocent civilians in Pakistan everyday, and the United States was determined to help Pakistan overcome its security and water issues, and energy crisis. He said the United States had announced a sum of $55 million for Fata and the money would go directly to the Water and Power Secretariat, Fata. Ambassador Holbrooke said misunderstandings were created deliberately by some (sections) of the Pakistani media just to hurt the relations between the United States and Pakistan. He said he was astonished that the public information on the US actions was continuously not getting the truth through. |
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