Pak sets terms for Bonn meet

The statement, which appears to give room for reconciliation, comes after US, Afghanistan and Germany publicly asked Pakistan to reconsider its decision to boycott the meet on the future of Afghanistan scheduled for December 5. “If we have no assurance about Pakistan’s security, sovereignty, integrity, honour, dignity and self-respect, then we cannot go (to the Bonn meet)”, Gilani told reporters in Karachi.

He was responding to a query on the cabinet decision taken on Tuesday following the Nato air strike on military border posts that killed 24 soldiers, an incident that has already send the Pak-US relations for a toss. However, after Pakistan decision to boycott the Bonn conference, the West have stepped up efforts to ensure Islamabad’s participation in the meet, in which 85 nations and 15 international organisations are due to attend.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton while voicing regret at Pakistan’s decision said she  hoped it would reconsider and find a “follow-up way” to attend the meet. “Pakistan like the US has a profound interest in a secure, stable and increasingly democratic Afghanistan,” she said. Afghan President Hamid Karazi had also called up Gilani and asked him to reconsider the decision.