Pakistan NATO blockade to continue

Prime minister says suspension may remain in place for several weeks, as tensions between Islamabad and US remain high.

The US military has left a Pakistani airbase as tensions with Islamabad continue to remain high [AFP/ISPR HANDOUT] Pakistan may continue a suspension of NATO supply routes into Afghanistan for several weeks, the country's prime minister has said. Speaking to the BBC, Yousuf Raza Gilani also refused to rule out closing Pakistani airspace to the US military. Pakistan suspended the passage of NATO supplies on routes that run through the country into Afghanistan in protest against a strike by NATO forces on Pakistani border posts last month that killed 24 soldiers, an attack the government termed "a deliberate act of aggression". Gilani said that there was a "credibility gap" in the relationship with the US. His government is currently carrying out a review of Pakistan's "terms of engagement" with Washington. "[The suspension of supplies] has already entered its 17th day. Hundreds, if not thousands, of containers are parked on the borders, whereas many more are now waiting at the Karachi port," Al Jazeera's Kamal Hyder, reporting from Islamabad, said. "The chief minister of Balochistan province is even warning that he wants all these tankers and containers to go back, because they're coming under attack: they're sitting ducks. "This is indeed a serious crisis, because most of the aviation fuel which is going into Afghanistan is going through strategic corridors, which both go through Pakistan. Continue reading...