Prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said there could not be "business as usual" with the US after the NATO airstrike that left two dozen Pakistani soldiers dead near the Afghan border.
Gilani on Monday said that Pakistan would reassess its arrangements with NATO and ISAF and its relationship with the US can only continue with mutual respect and mutual interest, reported Associated Press of Pakistan.
As many as 25 Pakistani soldiers were killed and 13 injured when NATO fighter jets and helicopters bombed two border posts in Mohmand tribal region near the Afghan border Saturday morning.
Gilani told CNN: "If I can’t protect the sovereignty of my country, how we can say it is mutual respect and mutual interest.”
To a question, Gilani said at the moment Pakistan was not getting respect from the US.
Islamabad-Washington ties had been strained over the May 2 killing of Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in his hideout in Pakistani town of Abbottabad. A secret memo to Washington in which President Asif Ali Zardari feared a military coup added to the strain.
The prime minister said: “You cannot win any war without support of the masses. We need the people with us and such sort of incidents are making people moving away.”
{{/usCountry}}The prime minister said: “You cannot win any war without support of the masses. We need the people with us and such sort of incidents are making people moving away.”
{{/usCountry}}On Pakistan-US ties, he said: “Business as usual will not be there. We have to have something bigger that satisfies my nation and entire country.”
The killing of Pakistani soldiers caused an outrage in Pakistan, which promptly stopped the passage of NATO supply through the country.