LAHORE, Oct 24: Former prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Thursday said that as premier he had told the US president that militants were winning sympathies because of drone strikes but Mr Obama insisted the technology was the most powerful weapon to curb terrorism. “President Obama told me on the sidelines of Nuclear Security Summit in South Korea last year that the drone strikes could not be stopped as it had been advised to him that it (drone) was the most powerful weapon to curb militancy,” Mr Gilani told Dawn on Thursday.

“I had told President Obama hat the drone strikes were counter productive and the militants were getting sympathies, therefore, these should be stopped. However, he (Mr Obama) stuck to his point. I asked him if we were partners in war on terror? You are not stopping drone strikes that shows you don’t trust us,” Mr Gilani said.

He said former ambassador to the US, Ms Sherry Rehman, former foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar, Sumsam Bokhari and Masood Khan were also present in the meeting.

While Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said he took up the drones issue with President Obama during his Wednesday meeting, the latter did not mention the drones while addressing the journalists (after the meeting).

It indicates Mr Obama is not in a mood to oblige Mr Sharif on drone issue and the strikes will continue if Mr Gilani’s assertion is something to go by.

The former premier rejected as ‘propaganda’ based on ‘unverified’ WikiLeaks reports quoted by a US paper (Washington Post) that his government had endorsed drone strikes in the country.

“There had been no agreement between my government and the US whatsoever on drone strikes. I had categorically told Mr Obama that drone attacks were against Pakistan’s sovereignty,” Gilani said.

The Washington Post writes in its Thursday edition: “Despite repeatedly denouncing the CIA’s drone campaign, top officials in Pakistan’s government have for years secretly endorsed the programme and routinely received classified briefings on strikes and casualty counts.”

Citing top-secret CIA documents and Pakistani diplomatic memos the paper said: “the files describe dozens of drone attacks in Pakistan’s tribal region and include maps as well as before-and-after (strikes) aerial photos of targeted compounds over a four-year stretch from late 2007 to 2011 in which the campaign intensified dramatically. Gen Pervez Musharraf and PPP’s Yousuf Raza Gilani were in power during the period.”

Mr Gilani said he had taken a “tough stance” against the US after the attack on Salala Check Post and for not ending the drones. “My government had boycotted the Bonn Conference and stopped the Nato supplies over the issue. As long as I remained prime minister the Nato supplies could not be restored. What else a Pakistani government could have done in reaction to such incidents,” he commented.