ISLAMABAD: The United States is pressurising Pakistan in order to hide its own failures in Afghanistan, said Chairman, Senate Standing Committee on Defence, Javed Ashraf Qazi on Tuesday.
After the in-camera session of the committee, Qazi said that US allegations would only aid the terrorists. The Defence Secretary and the senior officials of the Foreign Office and Inter Services Intelligence agency (ISI) also participated in the meeting.
The United States had alleged that Pakistan supported the militant organization known as the Haqqani network to carry out attacks on the US Embassy and NATO headquarters in Kabul on September 13.
It also claimed that the ISI will use the militant network to start a proxy war in Afghanistan against the US.
[Read: US makes 'all' Pakistan assistance subject to action against Haqqani Network]
Qazi added that the US officials often lie for their own interests and criticised the US media for siding with its government in the propaganda against Pakistan. Other participants of the meeting also strongly condemned the allegations against Pakistan and termed them baseless.
The chairman further urged the nation to unite and support the politicians of the country.
The allegations by the US brought a new rift in the US-Pakistan relationship that were already strained after the US incursion in Abbottabad on May 2 that led to the death of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.
After facing strong accusations by the US, top officials in Pakistan had meetings with the US officials on several occasions to discuss the Haqqani Network and its presence in Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar also met with the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in New York prior to the United Nations General Assembly session to discuss the same issue. Meanwhile, the US has been emphasizing on the need for Pakistan to tackle with the Haqqani network.
COMMENTS (8)
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The US is just looking for a scapegoat to blame for its own failures since an election year is coming. Otherwise, we all know that Afghanistan itself is a hotbed of terrorism and the Indians are using their lackeys in Afghanistan to attack civilians in Pakistan.
The American CIA is using a terrorist group called Jundallah in Balochistan according to this report by a leading American TV network ABC News
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2007/04/abcnewsexclus/
This kind of response is deflection and doesn't address the real issue. Does Pakistan harbor terrorist? Does the ISI use terrorist as strategic assets? Has the ISI used these terrorist against India or the USA? If the answer to any of these questions is yes then it seems to me that the USA/India/World have a legitimate complaint. . While the entire front page of this newspaper is covering this topic I doubt this is a high priority item for the American's. There is no mention of Pakistan on the front age of CNN and the only item covering Pakistan in the Asian section discusses a bus crash.
US wants two flavors in one ticket. at one side they want Pakistan to be an escape goat and on other they want Pakistan to facilitate its honorable withdrawal from Afghan quagmire. now either they can blame us for their failures and threaten us or they can have Pakistan's help and cooperation in Honorable with drawl from Afghanistan and settling Afghan crisis. our leadership have to tell them that they have to choose only one option. Pakistan is neither Cambodia or Laos nor Iraq or Afghanistan. Most problems which US face today are due to Bad Policies of US. It disturbed Ethnic Balance in Afghanistan. US should learn from Vietnam experience. It can Punish Pakistan like it Punished Cambodia or Laos but will it reverse the mistakes it committed and ill feelings it created amongst Pashtoons? If west especially US think it is great then it should try to repair the damage its policies caused and accept the blame and stop blaming Pakistan.
I am confused Mr. Javed Ashraf Qazi, how are the US allegations helping Pakistan?!
It is late but still right time to revisit our Foreign policy. In this process we have to thoroughly analyze current situation and its possible impact on our country.And we must also try to see other options than Foreign Aids because 'Beggars are not the Chooser'.
LONG LIVE PAKISTAN