WASHINGTON, July 22: The US claim that Osama bin Laden is in Pakistan and Washington does not rule out attacking Al Qaeda bases in Pakistan drew an angry response from Islamabad on Sunday, with Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri warning that any incursion would be irresponsible.
Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao said if anyone had any information about Osama (s)he should give it to Pakistan so that it might apprehend him.
Appearing on CNN’s “Late Edition,” the Foreign Minister criticised talk of US forces attacking Al Qaeda on Pakistani territory, warning that any incursion would alienate opinion in the country.
“We are committed to controlling terrorism, and people in Pakistan get very upset when, despite all the sacrifices that Pakistan has been making, you get all these criticisms” in the press, he said in an interview from Lahore.
“What I don't like is the tone that I am now hearing and that I am now reading in the American media,” Mr Kasuri said.
Kasuri told CNN that talk of an Al Qaeda “safe haven” in their country had angered the Pakistanis, who had had 700 soldiers killed fighting militants in tribal areas.
“What we need is actionable intelligence” to tackle Al Qaeda, he said, and reiterated his government's view that talk of US strikes inside Pakistan was “irresponsible,” adding that US raids into Pakistan would be a mistake.
“When you talk of going after targets, you will lose the battle for hearts and minds,” he said.
“Our stance is that Osama bin Laden is not present in Pakistan,” the country's Interior Minister Aftab Sherpao told AFP.
“If anyone has the information he should give it to us, so that we can apprehend him.”Pakistan has maintained that such comments were “irresponsible and dangerous.”
The army on Sunday ruled out the possibility of joint operations to target extremists.
“There will be no joint operations in Pakistani territory. There is no question of it,”
chief military spokesman
Maj-Gen Waheed Arshad told AFP.
“Pakistani forces are quite capable of conducting operation against militants on their territory and only they have the authority to do so,” Gen Arshad said.—AFP
