Pakistan says no deal on US strikes in its northwest, downplays president’s reported comments
NAHAL TOOSI | AP News, Oct 06, 2008
Pakistan insisted Monday it had no deal allowing the U.S. to fire missiles at militant hideouts after an American newspaper quoted the new president as suggesting otherwise.
President Asif Ali Zardari reportedly told The Wall Street Journal that “India has never been a threat” to his country, while calling Islamist militant groups in the disputed Kashmir region “terrorists.”
The reported comments could undermine Zardari just a month into his presidency, especially with Pakistan’s powerful military. The army’s top brass have traditionally viewed India as its top enemy and has denied any agreement with the U.S. on crossborder operations.
In the interview with the Journal reported on Saturday, Zardari is paraphrased as saying that the U.S. is carrying out missile strikes on Pakistani soil with his government’s consent.
“We have an understanding, in the sense that we’re going after an enemy together,” he is then quoted as saying.
Farhatullah Babar, a spokesman for Zardari, said the Journal writer had read too much into Zardari’s quote, and that the president was talking in generalities about fighting terrorism.
“The official position is that we do not allow foreign incursions into Pakistani territory,” Babar said.
The U.S. has long carried out missile strikes against suspected al-Qaida and Taliban hideouts in the northwest, but a recent surge in attacks has prompted official Pakistani condemnation. Washington complains that Pakistan is unwilling or unable to take strong action against the extremists.
At least 24 people, many of them alleged foreign militants, were killed in the latest suspected U.S. strike Friday in North Waziristan province, officials said.
Suspected militants also fired rockets at the home of the top provincial official in northwestern Pakistan, the latest in a surge of attacks that have rocked the lawless region bordering Afghanistan.
Three houses were damaged but no one was injured in the strikes in Mardan late Sunday on the home of North West Frontier Province’s chief minister, Amir Haider Khan Hoti.
Tags: Kashmir, Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari, United States, US missile attacks
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