Washington, May 22 Pakistan's demand for the US apology for the NATO
air strike in which its 24 soldiers were killed - an incident which has
strained bilateral relations -- was reiterated Tuesday by Pakistan's
ambassador Sherry Rehman and ruling Pakistan Peoples Party chairman Bilawal Bhutto Zardari.
US President Barack Obama should apologise to Pakistan for the NATO air
strike on the Salala border check post that killed 24 soldiers in
November, said Bilawal, who is on a visit to the US to "normalise the
ties" between the two countries, Dawn News reported.
The continuous drone attacks in
Pakistan's northwest tribal region were a violation of the country's
sovereignty, Bilawal said at a programme in New York.
Bilawal said Obama should
apologise to the people of Pakistan over the air strike, as the
relations between the two countries were at a critical juncture.
He said his mother, late former
prime minister Benazir Bhutto, had sacrificed her life for democracy and
for women's rights and that she struggled to eliminate terrorism from
Pakistan.
Sherry Rehman, Pakistan's envoy
to the US, also said that Islamabad was adamant on its demand for an
apology for the NATO air strike.
The air strike
led Pakistan to close the NATO supply lines to Afghanistan through
Pakistani territory and ask the US to vacate the Shamsi air base near
Quetta in Balochistan.
Talks are on for the restoration of the supply routes, Rehman told Geo News on the sidelines of a NATO summit in Chicago.
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