- A committee calls for U.S. to halt drone strikes inside Pakistan
- Lawmakers will now debate the recommendations
- A committee member expected them to be approved
- Such attacks have strained the relationship between Pakistan and the U.S.
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's parliament reconvenes Monday to debate a committee's recommendation that the United States stop drone strikes inside its territory and apologize unconditionally for airstrikes last year that killed two dozen soldiers.
The Parliamentary Committee on National Security, a group of 18 members of parliament members responsible for reviewing relations with the United States, made the recommendation in a report to lawmakers Tuesday,
"No overt or covert operations inside Pakistan shall be tolerated," the report said.
Lawmakers had until Monday to study the committee's conclusions. The joint session of the parliament will now decide whether to act on them.
Hiader Abbas Rizvi, a committee member, said he expected the recommendations to be approved, but not before several days of debate.
"We kept in mind both the angles, domestic demands and the requirement by the international community, while compiling our recommendations," Rizvi said. "We were optimistic, progressive, but of course patriotic Pakistanis at the end while we were compiling the recommendations."
Calling on the Pakistani government to ensure that "the principles of an independent foreign policy" are observed, the report said that the United States "must review its footprints in Pakistan."
The three key points it listed in that regard were the cessation of drone strikes inside Pakistani borders, "no hot pursuit or boots on Pakistani territory" and the need for the activities of foreign private security contractors to be "transparent and subject to Pakistani law."
Amid huge domestic and military pressure after NATO airstrikes on the Pakistani-Afghan border killed 24 Pakistani soldiers in November, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani created the committee.
Its report demanded an "unconditional apology from the United States for the unprovoked incident dated 25th-26th November 2011." It also said that those responsible for the airstrikes should be brought to justice.
There has been a sharp drop in the number of drone attacks in Pakistan since the November NATO airstrike, driving U.S.- Pakistan relations to a low point.
The Pakistani government shut down the two NATO supply routes in the country after the attack and has since been reviewing its partnership with the United States.
Its government sent a letter to Congress, calling it "the most recent example of the losses Pakistan has suffered fighting alongside the United States to combat terrorism and extremism."
An investigation into the incident by Brig. Gen. Stephen Clark on behalf of the United States concluded that Pakistan provoked NATO forces and distrust between the two parties lead to the firefight.
Pakistan disputed the findings, saying Clark's report was factually incorrect.
U.S. officials rarely discuss the CIA's drone program in Pakistan, though privately they have said that the covert strikes are legal and an effective tactic in the fight against extremists.
In January, President Barack Obama defended the use of drone attacks, saying a "pinpoint-strike" is "less intrusive" of other countries' sovereignty than other military ways to target al Qaeda.
"Our ability to respect the sovereignty of other countries and to limit our incursions into somebody else's territory is enhanced by the fact that we are able to pinpoint-strike an al Qaeda operative in a place where the capacities of that military in that country may not be able to get them," the president said.
Specifically, Obama said "obviously a lot of these strikes have been in the FATA" -- the acronym for Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas, a semi-lawless region that is home to extremist groups fighting NATO and Afghan forces as well as Pakistani army regulars -- plus neighboring Afghanistan.
"For us to be able to get them in another way would involve probably a lot more intrusive military actions than the ones we're already engaging in," Obama said.
He gave no indication that the U.S. policy of ordering drone strikes would change, at least as long as a terrorist threat remains.
CNN's Shaan Khan and Jethro Mullen contributed to this report.
