We will revisit our engagement with NATO: Gilani

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan will "revisit its engagement" with NATO and the International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan in view of the cross-border air strike in Mohmand tribal region, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said today.

Gilani made the remarks a day after the attack by NATO combat aircraft on two military border posts killed at least 24 Pakistani soldiers, including two officers.

Pakistan angrily responded to the attack by closing all NATO supply routes and asking the US to vacate an airbase reportedly used by CIA-operated drones.

Pakistan will continue to support a peace process in Afghanistan that is Afghan-led and Afghan-owned, Gilani said in an interview with a TV news channel.

In a related development, Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters that NATO supplies passing through Pakistan had been permanently stopped and not suspended.

He condemned the NATO attack on Pakistani forces. "NATO forces should respect the feelings of the Pakistani nation," Malik said.

The decisions made by the Defence Committee of the Cabinet to close NATO supply routes and to ask the US to vacate Shamsi airbase would be implemented in letter and spirit, he said.

"The decisions of the DCC are final and would be implemented," he said.

NATO container trucks that have been stopped would not be allowed to cross the Afghan border and the democratic government of Pakistan "would not take dictation from anyone", he said.