US not to abandon Pakistan, says Blair

ISLAMABAD - Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani has called for enhanced, credible and actionable intelligence sharing as well as defence cooperation between Pakistan and United States for the success of the war against militancy and terrorism.
Talking to Director US National Intelligence Dennis C Blair, who called on him at the PM House Monday evening, Yousuf Raza Gilani said that Army operation had been undertaken to eliminate militants from Pakistan’s territory. He said the government was faced with a gigantic task of coping with the large number of displaced persons and there was an urgent need for the US and the world to fulfil their pledges of providing humanitarian assistance to the displaced people. He noted that the world’s response in this regard so far had been far below Pakistan’s expectations.
The PM underlined the fact that around 80pc of the displaced people were given shelter by the local population. The people of Pakistan hence, as per their tradition of hospitality, have borne the major brunt of the present crisis. However, their resources were already overstretched. Even for a small number of people in relief camps, the available funds were not likely to last for more than a few weeks. Pakistan and its people, he said, had offered unprecedented sacrifices in terms of losses to life and property. It is, therefore, imperative for the rest of the world to discharge their responsibility by doing more in order to mitigate the sufferings of the displaced people, he added.
Blair assured the PM that the US and Nato forces would fully cooperate with Pakistan in sharing required intelligence, strengthening the existing tripartite mechanism for better cooperation between the forces on both sides of the Pakistan-Afghanistan border and in ensuring that militants do not cross over to Pakistan’s side over the newly deployed US forces in Afghanistan.
He agreed with the PM that more than the relief efforts, the rehabilitation and reconstruction phases were crucial to win the hearts and minds of the displaced people and the international community must come forward quickly to assist Pakistan in this regard.
Blair termed Prime Minister’s leadership as exemplary in uniting the whole nation behind Pakistan’s military operation against militants and commended him for his statesmanship in building the consensus on this as well as other issues of national importance.