PM Gilani warns of ‘trust deficit’ between U.S. and Pakistan
NEW YORK, May 12 (APP): Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, speaking to a leading American magazine in the wake of the US raid that killed Osama bin Laden has called on Washington to take drastic steps to restore trust and win over 180 million Pakistanis. In a 45-minute interview with TIME corespondent Omar Waraich, the prime
minister complained repeatedly about the widening “trust deficit” between the two allies.  Alternating between Urdu and English, the Prime Minister said cooperation between the CIA and its Pakistani counterpart, the ISI (Inter Services Intelligence), had broken down, and that Washington and Islamabad differed on how to fight terror and forge an exit strategy in Afghanistan.
Gilani warned that his government was accountable to an electorate increasingly hostile to the U.S. “I am not an army dictator, I’m a public figure,” the Prime Minister told TIME.
“If public opinion is against you [referring to his U.S. allies] then I cannot resist it to stand with you. I have to go with public opinion.” Speaking of the Abbottabad raid, Gilani said.
“Naturally, we wondered why they went unilaterally. If we’re fighting a war together, we have to work together. Even if there was credible and actionable information, then we should have done it jointly.”
The Prime Minister said that he was first alerted to the raid through a 2 a.m. call from Pakistan’s Army Chief, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani. Gilani then called his foreign secretary and asked him to demand an explanation from U.S. Ambassador Cameron Munter.
“I have not met or spoken to [U.S. officials] since,” he said. “Whatever information we are receiving is from the media. Today, we have said that we want them to talk to us directly.” Gilani rejected opposition suggestions that his government had caved in to the military by allowing it to hold an internal inquiry into the affair, rather than enforce civilian oversight.
“We are all on the same page,” Gilani said. The deepening rift between Washington and Islamabad also casts a shadow over Afghanistan, where their cooperation is vital to enable a U.S. exit strategy, according to the dispatch.
But Gilani emphasized his strengthening links with Afghan President Hamid Karzai and the many bonds that unite the two peoples. But that doesn’t necessarily translate into support for the U.S. strategy there. “In our discussions with Karzai, we came to an agreement that terrorists are our common enemy. We both have suffered; we both have made sacrifices. So we have decided to unite to fight against them.” To prove this recent intimacy, the dispatch said Gilani showed off a beautifully carved, single-slab lapiz lazuli coffee table top, encased in velvet. “It was a gift from Karzai,” he said. “It arrived a week ago.” According to TIME, Gilani acknowledges his abiding “difference of opinion” with Washington on how best to fight militancy.
“From day one, my policy has been the three Ds: dialogue, development and deterrence,” Gilani said. “The first time I shared my strategy with former US President George W. Bush, it sounded Greek to him. Today, the whole world is toeing the same line.” In that vein, he criticized the U.S. surge in Afghanistan:
“Military solutions cannot be permanent solutions. There has to be a political solution, some kind of exit strategy.” Gilani said he favours a political solution to the conflict next door, led by the Afghans.
“It should be owned by them and be on their own initiative,” the Prime Minister said. He saw Pakistan’s role as that of a “facilitator”. As its ties with Washington fray, Pakistan is strengthening its regional relations, the dispatch pointed out.
Gilani recently visited India; next week, he will travel to China. But the Prime Minister rejects any suggestion that Pakistan will compensate for any cooling of U.S. support by drawing closer to China. “We already have a stronger relationship with China,” he said. “It’s time-tested.” At the same time, he didn’t believe Washington was really going to cut aid. If it did, he said, “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.” Gilani does, however, fear that a deteriorating relationship with Washington could hurt Pakistan’s fight against domestic militancy, TIME commented. “When there’s a trust deficit,” he said, “there will be problems in intelligence sharing.”
Asked about the reason for this trust deficit, Gilani replied tersely, “It’s not from our side. Ask them.” “Traditionally, the ISI worked with the CIA,” he said.
Now, “what we’re seeing is that there’s no level of trust.” Gilani says the drone war weakens his efforts to rally public support for the fight against extremism. “No one can win a war without the support of the public,” he said.
“I say that this is my war, but when drones strike, the people ask, ‘Whose war is this, then?’ “ Still, Gilani said — for the first time, publicly “ that he was open to renegotiating the terms of the CIA’s programme.
“A drone strategy can be worked out,” Gilani said. “If drone strikes are effective, then we should evolve a common strategy to win over public opinion.
Our position is that the technology should be transferred to us.” Still, he added, he would countenance a policy in which the CIA would continue to operate the drones “where they are used under our supervision.”
Despite his constant references to the trust-deficit, Gilani hoped to see a restoration of closer ties with Washington, but put the onus on Washington to gain the support of Pakistani citizens.
“They should do something for the public which will persuade them that the U.S. is supportive of Pakistan,” he said. As an example, he  cited the 2008 U.S.-India Civil Nuclear Agreement.
“It’s our public that’s dying, but the deal is happening there,” the prime minister said. “You claim there’s a strategic partnership? That we’re best friends?” Casting his eyes up at his chandeliered ceiling, Gilani reached for a verse.
“When we passed each other, she didn’t deign to even say hello,” he intoned, quoting the Urdu poet Mirza Ghalib. “How, then, can I believe that our parting caused her any tears?”