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| Pakistan can’t wage war with US: PM |
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Saturday, September 13, 2008
Says US attacks can be taken up at diplomatic level
By Asim Yasin
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani on Friday pledged to raise the issue of US threats to Pakistan's territorial integrity at the international level to resolve it through diplomacy and said that right to launch an offensive against the terrorists solely rested with Pakistan as the government was capable of taking an effective action within the country.
"We can take up the matter of unilateral strikes in Pakistan at diplomatic level, but cannot wage war," he said while talking to newsmen here at Prime Minister Secretariat after inaugurating the country's first plant for manufacturing of auto disposable syringes.
He said this issue would be taken up with the United States and the United Kingdom with a view to convincing them that Pakistan would itself take any military action against the militants on its territory.
"Pakistan enjoys friendly relations with all the countries and will be able to bring Washington and London round to the fact that we are fully capable of tackling the scourge of terrorism ourselves," he added.
He was of the view that only Pakistan had the sole right to take action against the terrorist in its territory. "If any one has any information, it should be shared with us so that we may decide to take action. If there are any militants in our country, it is our right to take action against them and we can do that," he added. He said a pragmatic solution to the issue of terrorism would be worked out through dialogue.
The prime minister stressed that Pakistan was against terrorism and said, "We have suffered a lot due to this menace and even lost our leader Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto. We want peace in the country and not terrorism. We are taking action against this menace on our own."
The prime minister while speaking about the government's strategy to deal with the issue of terrorism and extremism particularly in the tribal areas said it was a mix of dialogue, development and the use of force in accordance with the circumstances. "This is our country and we want to address these issues on our own, and we are addressing these," he stressed.
He welcomed the statements of Germany, France and Nato on the issue of action in tribal areas and said, "We will convince the United States and Britain as well to respect the sovereignty of Pakistan."
To a question about the statement of Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the prime minister said he had also raised this issue after a meeting with Afghan President Hamid Karzai the other day.
In reply to a question about Friday's missile attack in the tribal areas, the prime minister said, "We strongly condemn this attack". The premier said he discussed the matter with Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and the issue will be taken up at diplomatic level.
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