Pakistan terms FM meeting with Clinton "positive and constructive"

Pakistan on Friday described the meeting between Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar and U. S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in London as "positive and constructive" . The meeting was held on the sidelines of an international conference on Somalia which was convened by the British Prime Minister. The meeting came as relations between the two allies are strained on variety of issues. "You will agree with me that Pakistan-U.S. relations are important and we are trying to make these relations transparent and predictable,"Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Abdul Basit said when he was asked at weekly press briefing about the outcome of Khar-Clinton meeting. He said the Foreign Minister and the State Secretary discussed bilateral relations and issues of mutual interest. "We are waiting for the completion of our parliamentary process. We will proceed further in the light of parliamentary guidelines," the spokesman said while referring to the review of future relationship with the U.S. "We expect the parliamentary process to complete soon, in any case sometime during the first half of March 2012," he said. Asked about the concern the U.S. has shown over Iran-Pakistan gas pipeline, Abdul Basit said that the Americans have their own concerns and their own position in the context of their sanctions imposed on Iran. "We have our own interests and our own position. As has been stated by our leadership, we will continue with this project and hope to complete it by 2014," he said. When his attention was drawn towards reports that Clinton had informed Foreign Minister Khar about the commencement of drone strikes in Pakistan, he said Pakistan believes that the U.S. drone strikes are unlawful and unacceptable and these strikes hamper counter-terrorism efforts and realization of shared objectives. "We have been raising this issue with the U.S. bilaterally. We have not yet taken a decision in this regard," the spokesman said. Asked if high level visits are expected from the U.S., including those of special envoy Marc Grossman, the spokesman said Pakistan expects all these visits to take place following the completion of the parliamentary process.