Pakistan upset over growing strategic ties between India and US: Sartaj Aziz

Islamabad: Pakistan on Thursday expressed concern over the growing strategic ties between India and the US and accused Washington of approaching Islamabad whenever it needs it and abandons it when it does not. “Pakistan will convey its concerns to the US over the latest issues in the bilateral ties,” Pakistan Prime Minister’s Adviser on Foreign Affairs Sartaj Aziz said, adding that a high-level meeting is planned here between the two nations tomorrow. The US approaches Pakistan whenever it needs it, and abandons it when it doesn’t need Pakistan, Dawn newspaper quoted Aziz as saying. [caption id=“attachment_2405314” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Sartaj Aziz. AFP[/caption] His comments came a day after the two countries signed a number of agreements for security cooperation during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the US. Pakistan is also upset that President Barack Obama has backed India’s bid for membership in the Nuclear Suppliers Group. “We firmly conveyed it to the US that maintaining effective nuclear deterrence is critical for Pakistan’s security and only Pakistan itself can determine how it should respond to growing strategic imbalance in South Asia,” Aziz said. He said Pakistan has decided to take up the issue of Kulbhushan Jadhav, an alleged Indian spy, with the UN and other international forums. He claimed that the statement made by Director General of India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) that no evidence linked Pakistan to the Pathankot attack has vindicated Pakistan’s position in attack probe. The perpetually oscillating Pak-US relationship is once again at low as reflected by the Congressional restriction on financing of F-16 fighter jet’s sale from Foreign Military Financing programme, due to which Pakistan lost the opportunity to buy the jets, the paper said. The relationship was further strained when the US carried out a drone strike in Balochistan, killing Afghan Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour, which was termed by Pakistani leadership a violation of the country’s sovereignty.