Gilani: Relations with US improving

Pakistan said on Wednesday that relations with estranged ally Washington were getting back on track and called for joint regional peace efforts after Afghanistan and India signed a strategic pact. The tense partnership between Pakistan and the United States in the “war on terror” took a battering last month, with Washington demanding that Islamabad take action against the Haqqani network and cut alleged ties to the group. Pakistan’s relations with neighbouring Afghanistan have also soured over what Kabul says is Islamabad’s links to militants. But Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was upbeat. “Relations between Pakistan and United States often experience ups and downs but these relations are now coming back towards right direction,” he told reporters in the capital Islamabad. Asked about Pakistan’s feelings on the burgeoning India-Afghanistan alliance, Gilani said: “Both are sovereign countries and they have the right to do whatever they want to. “We all are in the same region and we want to work together for peace and prosperity in the region and I think we should work together.” Karzai, who is currently on a visit to India, has tried to reassure “brother” Pakistan about the alliance with its historic foe. Indian involvement in Afghanistan is extremely sensitive because of the delicate and often deadly power games in South Asia, with Pakistan vehemently opposed to its arch enemy meddling in what it considers its backyard.