ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir said on Thursday that any country that again seeks to raid its territory would face consequences from Pakistan's military.
“We feel that that sort of misadventure or miscalculation would result in a terrible catastrophe,” he said. “There should be no doubt Pakistan has adequate capacity to ensure its own defence.”
He was speaking three days after a US raid by special forces, without the knowledge of Pakistan officials, on a compound in Abbottabad, north of the capital, killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
“It's easy to say that the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) or elements within the government were in cahoots with the Al Qaeda,” Bashir said.
“This is a false hypothesis. This is a false charge. It cannot be validated on any account and it flies in the face of what Pakistanis and in particular the Inter-Services Intelligence has been able to accomplish.”
“If it was an intelligence failure ... then it was a global intelligence failure,” Bashir said.
“That the ISI is incompetent is a value judgment,” he added.
“And we believe that this is not the time for anybody to indulge in the luxury of passing value judgments.”
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