Pak envoy says US not influencing changes in Islamabad

Islamabad, May 17 : Though Pakistan acknowledges the US as a superpower, but it was wrong to believe it was influencing the political changes in Pakistan, said ambassador designate to the US Hussain Haqqani.

Refuting the reports that changes in Pakistan were taking place under US' influence, he said: "The impression is totally wrong that all the changes in Pakistan are taking place with the will of the US."

The US position as a superpower should be acknowledged and that Pakistan has a multidimensional relationship with it. It is also a reality that the US is influential in the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, the Daily Times quoted Haqqani as saying in a TV interview.

Responding to a question, he said Pakistan could limit relation with the US only when its economy, defence and other fields are fully stable, but "currently we cannot afford it".

Haqqani said that PML-N chief Nawaz Sharif and PPP Co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari had said that US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher did not discuss the issue of the reinstatement of sacked judges in London.

Boucher has himself said that he did not talk on the issue, he added.

ANI