June 16, 2008	Monday	Jamadi-us-Sani 11, 1429

ISLAMABAD, June 15: Pakistan reacted strongly on Sunday to Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s threat to send in his army to finish off Taliban and Baitullah Mehsud on Pakistani soil.

“We neither interfere in other countries’ internal affairs nor will we allow anyone to interfere in ours,” Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told a TV channel.

The Foreign Office issued a stern statement, saying security forces in Afghanistan could take any action they wanted against militants in their country but not on Pakistani territory.

“Any statement that negated this basic principle and did not … respect (Pakistan’s) territorial sovereignty will not help in the war on terrorism and will be counterproductive. Pakistan will defend its territorial sovereignty,” Foreign Office spokesman Mohammad Sadiq told Dawn.

He hoped that Karzai’s remarks would not reignite a blame game by Afghanistan. Reiterating that the country would not tolerate any violation of its sovereignty, Mr Gilani said: “Such statements will not help in the normalisation of relations between the two countries and will hurt the sentiments of people on both sides of the border.”

Stressing that Pakistan wanted friendly ties with Afghanistan, he said that such statements could shatter the confidence between the two sides.

The spokesman said Pakistan had a clear position — on the Afghan side, the Afghan national army, the UN-mandated ISAF and the US-led forces could take whatever action they wanted against terrorists. “However, on the Pakistani side, only Pakistani troops can take action,” he added.