Pakistanis do not sell their mothers for a few thousand dollars, Washington told

A United States prosecutor's comment that Pakistanis would 'sell their mothers for a few thousand dollars' has created much ado between the two countries.

The prosecutor had made the remark during the trial of Ajmal Kansi, who allegedly killed two CIA officials in Washington a couple of years ago.

US Ambassador to Islamabad Thomas Simons was summoned to Pakistan's foreign office and conveyed the official protest. He is believed to have apologised saying that prosecutors appearing in lower courts do not know the niceties and delicacies of diplomatic relations.

Similarly, Pakistan's mission in Washington has also lodged a protest with the US Undersecretary of State Thomas Pickeering.

The Pak government has demanded an apology from the prosecutor.

However, senior US officials claim the prosecutor was not specifically referring to Pakistan. What he had said, they say, was that the people of the region are very poor, particularly in Baluchistan area (to which Kansi belongs).

UNI