Pakistan boycotts talks with US over drone attack

By IANS/AKI,

Islamabad: Pakistan has said it will boycott talks with the US on Afghanistan following a drone attack that killed about 40 people.


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The three-way talks between Pakistan, the US and Afghanistan were due to be held in Brussels March 26.

More than 40 people were killed Thursday in northwest Pakistan when a suspected US drone fired on a vehicle in the Khel region of North Waziristan. The vehicle was passing by a house where local tribesmen were holding a meeting.

Many of the victims were reportedly those who gathered at the meeting to settle a financial dispute.

“It is evident that the fundamentals of our relations need to be revisited,” the Pakistani foreign ministry said in a statement Friday. “Pakistan should not be taken for granted nor treated as a client state.”

The drone attack further strained relations between the US and Pakistan days after American CIA contractor Raymond Davis was released from a Pakistani prison. He had been jail for killing two men in Lahore in January.

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