ISLAMABAD: The fore­ign ministry on Monday “called in” the US envoy to convey what it described as its “concern” over violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty due to the drone attack targeting Taliban chief Mullah Akhtar Mansour and the possible fallout on the peace talks, but at the same time insisted on continuing counterterrorism cooperation.

“The Ambassador of the United States Mr David Hale was called in today by the Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs, Syed Tariq Fatemi, to express concern over the drone strike on Pakistani territory on Saturday, 21 May 2016,” the FO said in a statement.

Although the meeting was publicly characterised by the FO as summoning, a senior diplomatic source said it had been planned since Saturday when the strike occurred, and Mr Hale had been in constant contact with National Security Adviser retired Lt Gen Nasser Janjua and senior FO officials.

According to one source, Pakistan had been told in advance “at the operational level” about the strike.

Mr Fatemi’s protest at the meeting centred around Pakistan’s standard position that the drone attacks constituted violation of its sovereignty.

“Mr Tariq Fatemi pointed out that the drone strike was a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty and a breach of the United Nations’ Charter that guarantees the inviolability of the territorial integrity of its member states,” the FO statement said.

He further told Ambassador Hale that “such actions could adversely impact the ongoing efforts by the Quadrilateral Coordination Group (QCG) for facilitating peace talks between the Afghan government and the Taliban”.

The expression of concern over the likely effect of the strike (on reconciliation efforts) was seen by analysts as a tacit admission by a senior Pakistani official that Mansour had been eliminated. Pakistani leaders have been maintaining an ambiguous position on the US claim that Mansour had been killed.

A diplomat aware of the conversations between Pakistan and the US on the issue said Pakistani officials believe that Mansour’s killing would push back the peace process by years.

But the thinking on the US side is that Mansour was an “irreconcilable” militant leader, who had both ‘publicly and privately’ refused to join peace talks and was carrying out attacks. Hence, they believe, there was no point in holding back the action against him.

The American officials reject the Pakistani concern about the attack causing setback to peace talks, saying the process was already going nowhere because of Mansour’s intransigence.

The Americans aren’t convinced about the Pakistani explanation that Mansour had come from Iran. Their contention is that it was Pakistan’s responsibility to keep an eye on who goes out of its borders and returns.

Pakistan, despite the row over the drone strike, wants to move ahead in its ties with the United States.

“The Special Assistant to the Prime Minister also underlined that Pakistan and the United States had been closely coordinating in the fight against the menace of terrorism and that this cooperation needed to be maintained,” the FO said.

Published in Dawn, May 24th, 2016