ISLAMABAD, Oct 16: Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider warned on Tuesday that a long US war in Afghanistan would strain his country’s ability to control domestic unrest.

“If there are more casualties...it will bring strains on the Pakistan law enforcing agencies which are overstretched,” Mr Haider said in an interview with Reuters Television.

Mr Haider, who had joined several ministers in a meeting with US Secretary of State Colin Powell before the US official met President Pervez Musharraf, said Powell would give no indication how long the campaign would last.

However, Mr Haider said violent opposition to the US policy in Afghanistan had so far been contained and the government would not hesitate to use the army to control unrest if it became necessary. “So far we have seen that we are mostly using our police forces and partially, very little sometimes, the second-line forces called the civil armed forces — the scouts, the rangers,” Mr Haider said. “And, of course, the army has not been called in anywhere so far.”

“In Pakistan, if there are riots or the law or order situation breaks down, it is a constitutional provision in which we can ask the army to come in and assist in restoring law and order,” Mr Haider said. “That has not been done so far, that means we are fairly comfortable in controlling these crowds.”

“Our police forces have been busy around the clock ever since the 11th of September, most specifically after Oct 7 (when U.S. attacks on Afghanistan began),” Haider said.

“There have been some fatal casualties, 10 or 11 so far, but we have managed to control the situation,” he said.

INDIA ACCUSED: Moinuddin Haider accused India of being behind many of the 100 unexplained bombs that explode across the country each year.