Pakistan has suspended official visits and talks concerned with the U.S. to protest against President Donald Trump’s criticism of Islamabad for providing safe havens to militants, a media report said on Tuesday.
It was disclosed by Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif on Monday in the Senate, which converted itself into a committee to discuss the deteriorating relations with the U.S.
Senate meeting
Mr. Asif told the Senators that Pakistan had suspended talks and bilateral visits as a mark of protest, Dawn quoted sources as saying.
U.S. Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Alice Wells was supposed to arrive here on Tuesday, while the Foreign Minister himself was to travel to the U.S. last week.
Mr. Asif reportedly said that the new U.S. policy on South Asia envisaged no military role for India in Afghanistan and that its role was one that would involve economic development.
He claimed during the in-camera session of the committee that India would not be allowed to use Afghan soil to destabilise Pakistan.
The members also asked the government to share a fact sheet on U.S. assistance received after 9/11 and the financial loss incurred by the country as a frontline state against the war on terror.
The policy guidelines will be given shape of a resolution which is most likely to be passed by the Senate on Wednesday.
