Islamabad: Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani voiced concern on Wednesday over the US suspension of a third of its annual military aid to Pakistan amid the prevalent tension in relations between the two allies.

Responding to a question during a news conference at Quetta in Balochistan, Gilani said Pakistan was fighting terrorism not only in its own interest but also for regional and global peace.

“Hence Pakistan does have its concerns over the withholding of the military aid,” worth $800 million, the official media quoted the prime minister as saying.

He hoped that Pakistan-US relations would continue on the basis of mutual respect and shared interests.

Gilani also said Pakistan supports the reconciliation efforts in Afghanistan and stressed that it must be an Afghan-led process with participation of Islamabad and the US.

On the other hand the head of Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) Lieutenant General Ahmad Shuja Pasha left Wednesday for Washington for unscheduled talks, days after the UA military aid decision.

Pakistan army has said it would continue the fight against terrorism “in our national interest using our own resources.”

Lt-Gen Pasha was visiting Washington to “coordinate intelligence matters,” a military statement said.

Relations between the intelligence establishments of the two countries have been on a downward spiral since January after a CIA contractor killed two Pakistanis in Lahore.

In May, the killing of Osama bin Laden in a secret raid by U.S. special forces further damaged the relationship, with Pakistan seeing the operation as a violation of its sovereignty.

Subsequently, Pakistan drastically cut the number of U.S. military trainers allowed in the country and also set clear terms for U.S. intelligence activities in the country.

Pasha would be hold talks with CIA chief Heneral David Petraeus. During the talks Pasha is expected to take up the recent statement by US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta that Al Qaeda chief Aymen Al-Zawahiri was present in Pakistani tribal areas.

A military spokesman here had stated after Panetta’s claim that if the US had any actionable intelligence it should share it with Pakistan so that it could take action accordingly.