Unilateral action will have dire consequences: Pakistan

Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir says no Taliban safe havens in Pakistan.

Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Salman Bashir has warned of dire consequences of any unilateral operation on Pakistani soil in future.

The remarks come weeks after US commandos killed al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden in a top-secret operation in Abbottabad. The operation immensely hurt the credibility of Pakistan’s army and further strained an already-murky relation between the US and Pakistan.

According to Afghan television TOLOnews, Salman Bashir told a news conference in Kabul that the launch of operations in Pakistan without coordination with Islamabad was against international laws. The fight against terrorism should be based on international laws and in a partnership approach, Bashir said and called on the United States to respect international laws.

“What is appropriate in the pursuit of policies on counterterrorism is partnership approach. In fact, it’s Pakistan that has contributed more in any way in this regard,” he said.

He accepted the presence of the Taliban in Pakistan, but said that it didn’t mean Pakistan has provided them with safe havens.

“The fact is that nearly every key al Qaeda operative was arrested in Pakistan from one or the other urban centres of Pakistan,” he said. “You know the history of the dispersal of the Taliban and of the al Qaeda, I don’t have to repeat that in Kabul, but that is the reality. And that is a reality because we are close neighbours. We have common borders.”

Bashir said now is the time Afghanistan and Pakistan step up talks focused on improvement in security, economy and social aspects.

He is expected to represent Pakistan in trilateral talk between Afghanistan, Pakistan and the United States which is due to be held soon.

The top Pakistani diplomat also carries a special message from Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani to Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 24^th, 2011.