News
Friday, September 23, 2011
Prove it: Pakistan* Interior minister denies ISI ties to Haqqani network
* Says US must provide intelligence on militant groups
ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Rehman Malik, on Thursday, rejected the US allegations that Islamabad had ties with the Haqqani network, saying if they have some kind of proof they must come forward.
Pakistan would not tolerate any incursion on its territory by US forces targeting terrorist groups, the interior minister said, calling for Washington to provide the intelligence that Islamabad needs to take them out itself.
Malik also rejected US allegations that Pakistan’s intelligence agency aids or has ties with the Taliban-allied Haqqani network.
“The Pakistani nation will not allow the boots on our ground, never. Our government is already cooperating with the US ... but they also must respect our sovereignty,” he told Reuters in an interview, insisting that Islamabad wanted US intelligence, not troops, to root out insurgents inside Pakistan.
Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, this week accused the Inter-Services Intelligence directorate (ISI) of using the Haqqani network to wage a “proxy war” on NATO and Afghan troops in Afghanistan. “If you say that ISI involved in that attack, I categorically deny it. We have no such policy to attack or aid attack through Pakistani forces or through any Pakistani assistance,” Malik said. During the interview to Reuters, Malik conceded that elements of the Haqqani network are partly based in North Waziristan on the Afghan border.
“Our capacity to trace them in that area is limited. Give us the information and we will operate,” he said. “Let’s have information, let’s have a proper investigation and if there is a requirement, let’s have an operation.”
“We are fighting a common enemy but unfortunately not with a common strategy. Instead of a blame game we have to sit together. We are not part of the terrorism, we are part of the solution.”
One option for the United States - another cross-border raid, like the mission that killed bin Laden - may be tempting in some quarters. But the risks are high and the backlash from Pakistan would be fierce, almost certainly harming what counter-terrorism cooperation exists. reuters
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk