ISLAMABAD: Pak-US relations may lately have turned the corner, but troubles of the past few months were reflected in the Foreign Office’s reaction to President Obama’s re-election, although with a positive spin.

“Actually the issues of divergence between the two countries as you pointed out, particularly the drone attacks, are also in a way points of convergence in a sense that both sides are conscious of the fact that this issue has to be taken care of,” FO spokesman Moazzam Khan said while replying to a question about how Obama’s victory could affect the trajectory of the bilateral relationship.

“At the end of the day, I think we both share common objectives. Apart from expanding the existing bilateral relations, we have some common objectives, particularly peace and stability in the region,” Mr Khan said. But, he quickly reminded that Pakistan’s policy of opposing drones remained unchanged.

The expectations Pakistani diplomats have from Mr Obama are that he agrees to a “mutually acceptable snarcotics

counter

olution”, which they say could be found through “meaningful discussions”.

A two-day ministerial conference for discussing the prospects of regional cooperation to counter narcotics is being held on the initiative of President Zardari. About a dozen regional countries have been invited to the conference being held in Islamabad on Nov 12-13.—Baqir Sajjad Syed