Washington, Mar.27 (ANI): Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi has admitted that the United States has not yet heeded Islamabad’s plea to hand over the unmanned Predator aircrafts to enable it to carry out the drone attacks targeting the extremists.

“I don’t think so,” Qureshi said in response to a question that whether the US has agreed to his country’s long standing demands for the drone technology.

In an interview with the CNN, Qureshi, acknowledged that the CIA operated missile hits inside Pakistan’s geographical boundaries has ‘taken out some valuable targets’ but added that the Obama Administration would be able to reduce the existing massive anti-America sentiment in Pakistan by offering it the drone technology.

“The issue of sovereignty is there. People of Pakistan feel strongly about it. We want the ownership. We make the decision when to operate. It will help improve the feelings in Pakistan,” Qureshi said.

Pakistan has been pestering the US to hand over drone technology to it so that it can carry out strikes on suspicious militant targets in the lawless tribal regions along the Afghan border.

Although Pakistan publicly opposes the attacks, saying that they violate its sovereignty and fuel anti-Americanism among the population, it is believed that it is sharing intelligence with the US about the insurgents and their hideouts.

The US has rejected Pakistan’s demand for armed drones, but during his recent Islamabad visit US Defence Secretary Robert Gates had offered to provide at least a dozen ‘unarmed aerial vehicles to Pakistan.

The Shadow surveillance drone was seen as a compromise aimed at enticing Pakistan further into the ‘war on terror’ and helping the country’s political leadership explain the drone strikes to the country’s people. (ANI)