Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani. - File Photo

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan said on Wednesday that relations with estranged ally Washington were getting back on track and called for joint regional peace efforts after Afghanistan and India signed a strategic pact.

The tense partnership between Pakistan and the United States in the “war on terror” took a battering last month, with Washington demanding that Islamabad take action against the Haqqani network and cut alleged ties to the group.

Pakistan's relations with neighbouring Afghanistan have also soured over what Kabul says is Islamabad's links to militants.

But Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani was upbeat.

“Relations between Pakistan and United States often experience ups and downs but these relations are now coming back towards right direction,” he told reporters in the capital Islamabad.

Asked about Pakistan's feelings on the burgeoning India-Afghanistan alliance, Gilani said: “Both are sovereign countries and they have the right to do whatever they want to.

“We all are in the same region and we want to work together for peace and prosperity in the region and I think we should work together.”

Karzai, who is currently on a visit to India, has tried to reassure “brother” Pakistan about the alliance with its historic foe.

Indian involvement in Afghanistan is extremely sensitive because of the delicate and often deadly power games in South Asia, with Pakistan vehemently opposed to its arch enemy meddling in what it considers its backyard.

Opinion

Editorial

Energy inflation
Updated 23 May, 2024

Energy inflation

The widening gap between the haves and have-nots is already tearing apart Pakistan’s social fabric.
Culture of violence
23 May, 2024

Culture of violence

WHILE political differences are part of the democratic process, there can be no justification for such disagreements...
Flooding threats
23 May, 2024

Flooding threats

WITH temperatures in GB and KP forecasted to be four to six degrees higher than normal this week, the threat of...
Bulldozed bill
Updated 22 May, 2024

Bulldozed bill

Where once the party was championing the people and their voices, it is now devising new means to silence them.
Out of the abyss
22 May, 2024

Out of the abyss

ENFORCED disappearances remain a persistent blight on fundamental human rights in the country. Recent exchanges...
Holding Israel accountable
22 May, 2024

Holding Israel accountable

ALTHOUGH the International Criminal Court’s prosecutor wants arrest warrants to be issued for Israel’s prime...