Front Page > World > Article Title/Fixture Title

Front Page > Foreign

Email | Print | Subscribe

Click-2-Listen

advertisement

U.S. envoys told to respect sovereignty

By Nicholas Kralev
March 26, 2008

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif (left) of Pakistan greets visiting U.S. Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte. He warned the envoy that the new Pakistani government would not tolerate bombings.

---

A top official in Pakistan's governing coalition yesterday rebuked two senior U.S. diplomats, who arrived in Islamabad as the new prime minister was being sworn in, telling the envoys not to make his country a "killing field" in a bid to save the world.

Deputy Secretary of State John D. Negroponte and Richard A. Boucher, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia, sought to persuade Pakistan's new civilian government not to negotiate with militants.

They said nothing to reporters after a meeting with former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif. But Mr. Sharif apparently gave his guests an earful of advice.

"If America wants to see itself clean of terrorism, we also want that our villages and towns should not be bombed," Mr. Sharif told reporters.

"It is unacceptable that, while giving peace to the world, we make our own country a killing field," he said, referring to recent air strikes near the Afghan border many Pakistanis blame on U.S. forces.

Mr. Sharif leads second-largest party in the governing coalition headed by Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani, who was sworn in yesterday.

Mr. Negroponte and Mr. Boucher did not attend the ceremony.

Mr. Sharif, who was ousted by President Pervez Musharraf in a 1999 military coup, said the incoming government will review Pakistan's support for the U.S.-led war on terror.

Click-2-Listen

Front Page > Foreign