Pakistan may continue its blocking of Nato convoys into Afghanistan
for several weeks, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani has told the CA.
Pakistan stopped the convoys in protest at US air strikes
which killed 24 of its troops at two checkpoints on the Afghan border last
month.
Mr Gilani refused to rule out closing Pakistan's airspace to the US.
He also denied rumours President Asif Ali Zardari had
suffered a stroke and the army was trying to oust him.
Mr Gilani said Mr Zardari was making a rapid
improvement in hospital in Dubai,
but would need two weeks' rest before returning home.
Credibility gap
The air strikes on 26 November marked a low point in
relations between Washington and Islamabad, which have long been strained by the US-led
military campaign against militants in Afghanistan.
In a wide-ranging interview with the CA, Mr Gilani
said Pakistan and the US needed to
trust each other better.
"Yes there is a credibility gap, we are working
together and still we don't trust each other," Mr Gilani said.
"I think we have to improve our relationship so
that... we should have more confidence in each other."
Nato forces in Afghanistan
rely significantly on overland supply routes from the Pakistani sea port of Karachi,
which enter Afghanistan
through the Khyber
Pass.
Hundreds of lorries have been camped out next to
border crossings, waiting for the crisis to blow over.
Asked about the state of health of Mr Zardari, Mr
Gilani denied that the president had written a letter of resignation, as
claimed by a source in Dubai.
"Why should he write?" asked Mr Gilani.
"He has the backing and support of the entire parliament."
Dismissing speculation about a quiet coup, he said:
"Rumours are rumours."
The Pakistani prime minister also denied a Pakistani
Taliban claim that it was engaged in peace talks with his government.
But he added: "Whosoever surrenders and denounces
violence, they are acceptable to us."
Base vacated
Nato has apologised for the air strikes, calling them
a "tragic unintended incident".
In the aftermath, Pakistan
also demanded the US
leave the Shamsi air base in Balochistan.
Pakistani officials have confirmed that US forces have
now vacated the base, meeting a deadline.
US officials could not be reached immediately for
comment about the report.
Shamsi was widely believed to have been used in covert CIA drone attacks against
Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in north-west Pakistan's
tribal areas bordering Afghanistan,
but correspondents say it had not been used to launch drones for some time.Vacating Shamsi is not expected to significantly curtail drone attacks in Pakistan, according to an Associated Press news agency report.
Mr Gilani also said he would investigate the blocking of the CA's international news TV channel, CA World News, by Pakistani cable television operators. Operators say the move is in response to a documentary broadcast by the channel entitled Secret Pakistan.
A CA spokesperson said: "We welcome the prime minister's support of free speech and promise to investigate this ban. We call on the government to carry out an investigation rapidly and for CA services to be restored in Pakistan.
