ISLAMABAD, April 16: In a pointed message to the US and other members of the international coalition against terrorism, the government on Monday warned them against deflecting criticism from their own failures towards Pakistan and underscored the need for mutual trust for counter-terrorism efforts to succeed.
“We expect the international community to have trust in us as we would trust them because without that, this alliance against terrorism cannot achieve any success,” Foreign Office spokesperson Tasneem Aslam told a weekly news briefing while responding to a question. “We also expect the international community to acknowledge Pakistan’s contribution, acknowledge its own failures and not try to deflect criticism from its own failures towards Pakistan,” she added.
Asked what had prompted the rather stern statements by the president and the prime minister directed at the US last week, she noted: “What our leaders have said and we have been saying is that for this alliance to be successful in its mission, mutual trust is absolutely important and this is basically what the president’s and the prime minister’s message was.”
The FO spokesperson was evasive when asked if walking out of the alliance was a serious option for Pakistan. Instead, she said the alliance was not in the form of a formal agreement, where one could give a notice and walk out.
Asked if the Americans were happy with the Pakistan army asking the tribal Lashkar to eradicate foreign elements from Waziristan, she said: “We haven’t asked.” Her response was an emphatic “no” when asked if Pakistan would ask them.
PRESSURE: Ms Aslam dispelled the impression that Pakistan was under any sort of pressure from the US administration for allowing joint operations by the US and Pakistani forces inside the country.
She opted to “ignore” a question about the Australian prime minister’s call for Pakistan to do more in the war against terrorism.
NUCLEAR BOMBS: Ms Aslam’s initial reaction to the American concern about “Sunni” and “Shia” nuclear bombs was: “Frankly we didn’t know even weapons had religions and also sectarian leanings.” Cautioning that for Muslims in general this sort of debate would be “very mischievous”, she said:
Answering another question, she said Gulf States had talked about acquiring nuclear technology for civilian uses. She said every country had a right to access such technology for civilian purposes.
RAHUL’S REMARKS: She noted that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s remarks about the division of Pakistan did not deserve much attention because what he had said was nothing new.
When an Indian journalist asked if the division of Pakistan was just because of Indian intervention, the FO spokesperson said she did not wish to get into that debate. However, she hastened to add: “May be there were circumstances but India took advantage of those circumstances to dismember Pakistan and what the scion of Gandhi’s family has done is that he has accepted the real Indian motive for intervention.”
TURKISH INITIATIVE: On a report about President Gen Musharraf’s meeting with his Afghan counterpart in Ankara later this month, she said: “The Turkish prime minister has taken an initiative and in response to his initiative, arrangements are in hand for a possible trilateral meeting in Turkey.” She said the president would be embarking on a three-nation tour of European countries later this month and perhaps at the end of that he would visit Turkey.
PAKISTAN-AFGHAN RELATIONS: On President Hamid Karzai’s call for Pakistan to change its policy towards Afghanistan for normalisation of bilateral relations, she said she had just seen the media reports and there was no authentic text available to know what exactly he had said. “However, the reality is that problems of Afghanistan are inside Afghanistan. The Kabul leadership better realise it sooner than later.”
CHINA: The FO spokesperson was noncommittal when asked if an agreement with China for supply of additional nuclear power plants was on the cards during the prime minister’s visit there this week.
