Pakistan Warns: Of Serious Impact on Ties with US       
By Aziz Malik 'Pakistan Times' Federal Bureau Chief

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Monday warned of serious impact on its relationship with the United States of America if any transgression was made in the parameters of their long-term strategic partnership.

“Any transgression of the accepted parameters, would be unacceptable and would damage the interests between the two countries,” Foreign Office spokesperson Ms Tasnim Aslam told reporters here at the weekly briefing.

She was responding to a question about the comments made by US Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns where he stated that his country would not hesitate in striking suspected al-Qaeda hideouts in Pakistan’s tribal areas.

Ms Aslam termed it “mere echo” of similar statements by other US officials that have been demanding Pakistan to “do more”, while ignoring efforts made by Pakistan in eliminating terrorists, which she added was in Pakistan’s national interest.

The spokesperson recalled the statements by US President George W Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney that acknowledged Pakistan’s role in countering terrorism along with the international community.

“Pakistan is pursuing a comprehensive strategy that combines military action where necessary and political and administrative measures to cleanse the region of terrorist elements who came to Pakistan, following the US intervention in Afghanistan.”

She said Pakistan was dealing with challenges in its neighbourhood with extreme care and expected that its friends should not complicate the task which was difficult.

She said “placement of conditionalities is in no way conducive to the healthy relationship” and pointed that it would “cast shadow on Pak-US cooperation.

Commenting on a Washington Post story, quoting an unnamed senior US officials, of manipulation in the US National Intelligence Estimates report, the FO spokesperson said, “NIE report ought to be accurate,” and added it would be a serious matter if the news report was correct.

“We have seen disastrous consequences of such inaccurate reports in the past ... there is no al-Qaeda or Taliban safe haven in Pakistan ... if there is any terrorist activity, it is for the security forces of Pakistan to take action.”

She made it clear that Pakistan was taking all efforts against terrorism in its own national interest and added it was not at the behest of anyone.

Ms Aslam said Pakistan’s relations with the United States of America was in the interest of peace and security in the region and in the interest of the world.

“If the assistance is curtailed, it will damage the kind of relationship, Pakistan and US desire to maintain.”

She said US Secretary of State Richard Boucher will be coming to Pakistan, however no dates had been finalized so far.

She termed it speculative a report saying that Boucher’s visit aimed at providing actionable intelligence to Pakistan.

Pak-Afghan Jirga Commission

On demands by tribal elders for the representation of Taliban at Pak-Afghan Jirga Commission, Ms Aslam said it was not Pakistan to decide for their participation.

“It is not for us to discuss the representation of Afghan side (at jirga meeting), as Taliban are the Afghans.”

The spokesperson termed “ridiculous” a statement by the Governor of Ghazni accusing Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI) agency for assisting Taliban in holding the South Korean captives in Afghanistan.

She said no official contacts were made with Pakistan government for the release of South Korean captives.●