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Pakistan says no deal for US missile strikes
Islamabad (AFP) Oct 6, 2008 Pakistan denied Monday that it had struck a deal allowing US missile strikes against militants on its soil, after a report quoted the country's president as saying there was an "understanding". The Wall Street Journal said President Asif Ali Zardari had indicated that Islamabad had an agreement with the United States giving permission for a string of air strikes in Pakistan's tribal areas bordering Afghanistan. "We have an understanding, in the sense that we're going after an enemy together," the journal quoted Zardari, the widower of slain former premier Benazir Bhutto, as saying when asked about the strikes. Public anger has mounted in Pakistan over the air strikes targeting Al-Qaeda and Taliban rebels, and especially over a ground raid by US special forces into the tribal belt on September 3 in which 15 Pakistanis were killed. Pakistani troops also clashed with US forces in Afghanistan late last month after Pakistani forces opened fire on US helicopters. "He (Zardari) has never said that they (the strikes) were being done with our knowledge or permission," Information Minister Sherry Rehman told state television when asked about the interview. "We have been saying that whenever there is some actionable intelligence with (US-led) coalition forces, they should share it with us," she said. She also specifically denied that Pakistan had given permission for the ground attack on September 3. "The government and president have repeatedly said that only Pakistan's forces can undertake any ground attack on our side of the border. It does not mean that foreign forces should come here," Rehman said. Zardari also caused surprise in Pakistan when he said in the interview that India, Pakistan's nuclear-armed arch-rival, had "never been a threat" and that militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir were "terrorists". India has long accused Pakistan of backing Islamist militants in the divided Himalayan territory, hit by an insurgency launched in 1989. The two countries launched a peace process in 2004 but relations remain tense. Rehman said that Zardari's comments were in line with Pakistani policy. "President Zardari and (Bhutto's) Pakistan People's Party have always supported the right of self-determination of Kashmiri people for the last 40 years," Rehman said. "It does not mean that we are bargaining or compromising on this position to improve our relations with India." Related Links News From Across The Stans
Suspected US missile kills 20 militants in Pakistan: officials
Miranshah, Pakistan (AFP) Oct 3, 2008A suspected US missile destroyed a house in a Pakistan tribal region bordering Afghanistan Friday, killing around 20 Al-Qaeda-linked militants, mostly foreign nationals, officials said. |
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