Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani today claimed that his government had never allowed the US to use Pakistani airbases for drone strikes in the tribal region. Gilani said this during an interaction with reporters in his hometown of Multan in Punjab province. Responding to a question, he said that the previous government of President Pervez Musharraf had allowed the US to use airbases for reconnaissance purposes. Gilani's statements came amidst a controversy over Shamsi airbase in southwestern Balochistan province, which the US has reportedly been using for drone flights. Since the 1990s, the airbase has been under the control of the United Arab Emirates, which has given the US access to it. The country's Defence Minister Chaudhry Ahmed Mukhtar said last week that Pakistan had asked the US to vacate the Shamsi airbase. However, unnamed US officials have told the Western media that the airbase is not being vacated.