MULTAN Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Monday that US President Barrack Obama in his letter to President Asif Ali Zardari had not asked Pakistan to 'do more'.
Talking to newsmen here, the minister said it was Pakistan which had to decide the course of the military operation against militants. He said the operation was being carried successfully and the desired objectives would be achieved ahead of schedule.
(According to Reuters, Mr Qureshi said Pakistan and the United States shared the common objective of defeating militancy, but Pakistan would not be prodded into military operations by outsiders.
'We will not do anything, more or less, at the prodding of others. We will see what are Pakistan's requirements and priorities,' he told reporters.
He was responding to a question about a New York Times report on Monday that said the United States had stepped up pressure on Pakistan to expand its fight against Taliban and Al Qaeda militants.)
'The US should realise the problems Pakistan is facing today and transfer drone technology to us. Drone attacks (by the US) are counter-productive and against country's sovereignty and territorial integrity,' he added.
Mr Qureshi described as encouraging a recent statement by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh that dialogue was the only way of resolving all issues with Pakistan.
Reiterating Pakistan's commitment to resuming the composite dialogue process, he said that only talks could resolve the issues, including the Kashmir dispute. He said that terrorists had their own priorities and always tried to sabotage the dialogue process.
The minister said that water dispute with India was a complex and serious issue and Pakistan had the option of going for Indus Water Treaty arbitration if efforts to settle the dispute through bilateral talks failed.
He said the government had increased the rice procurement target from 600,000 tons to one million tons. 'The demand for rice in the international market is increasing and farmers should not worry about a decline in prices.'
He said that Malaysia would purchase 40,000 tons of rice from Pakistan and Philippines had also shown interest.Mr Qureshi said he would visit Kabul on Nov 19 for a roundtable conference which would also be attended by foreign secretaries of the US and Britain. He said it was for the US to decide how many troops were required in Afghanistan, but coordination with Pakistan was necessary for the use of these troops.
