'US should provide information on Zawahiri's presence in Pakistan'
Reacting to US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s claim about the presence of Ayman al Zawahiri in Pakistan, the foreign minister has asked Washington to share with Islamabad if it knows the whereabouts of the al Qaeda kingpin.
“We are part of the US war against al Qaeda … We need specific intelligence sharing on al Zawahiri. Washington must share this information with Islamabad,” Hina Rabbani Khar said on Monday.
She was briefing the Parliamentary Committee on National Security (PCNS) on the issue of US drone strikes in tribal regions and parliament’s guidelines on the country’s foreign policy.
“[As far as the US] drone strikes [are concerned], Pakistan and America have different stances,” Khar told the meeting. She said that Nato supply lines would be reopened only if the US tendered a formal apology over the 2011 deadly Nato air raid.
“Until and unless the US tenders an apology, it will be difficult to move forward on the issue of reopening Nato supply routes,” she added. “This is exactly what the civil and military leaderships have agreed upon.”
Khar quashed the impression that last month’s talks with Marc Grossman, the top aide of President Barack Obama, had failed. But at the same time she conceded that no breakthrough was achieved.
“Pakistan has already conveyed its protest on drone attacks through US officials in Islamabad,” she said, adding that talks were under way on the future of Pakistan’s relationship with the US in the light of parliamentary guidelines. “[We hope] the US will respect our parliament’s recommendations on drone strikes.”
PCNS Chairman Raza Rabbani, while talking to the media after the meeting, condemned US Defence Secretary Leon Panetta’s statement on drone strikes.
“Such statements enrage public sentiments in Pakistan,” he added.
Senator Rabbani said US drone attacks violate the international law and Pakistan’s sovereignty.
He vowed that the country’s sovereignty would not be compromised at any cost.
On May 5 Panetta said that US pilot-less aircraft would continue to hit targets inside Pakistan, and rejected the stance that the attacks were a violation of Pakistan’s sovereignty.
Defence Secretary Nargis Sethi and the finance ministry’s adviser also briefed PCNS members on Grossman’s visit and on implementation of the resolution passed by parliament in April.
Today (Tuesday) the committee will take up the issue of missing persons with top officials of the intelligent agencies set to brief the committee.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 8th, 2012.
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Lets see OBL was in pakistan for five years in a very visible, large, compound that we could immediately tell had hight value in our hunt for high value terrorists. During this time we gave them billions of dollars in aid. So lets stop sending all aid until they find Zawahiri AND apologize for harboring him. Meanwhile our prosecution of our war on terrorism will continue with drone strikes as we see necessary. Lets be honest other than the harboring of terrorist done in their country we have absolutely no need for Pakistan as friend or foe. That is why they can't be trusted because its in their interest to let this war and the hunt to go on forever as they collect crazy amounts of aid from the U.S. It's time to stop the aid completely and deal with things on our own as we have been anyways.
@bangaSo that pakistan can relocate jawahiri to more safer place in Islamabad,karachi or lahore !!!!
Are we brain dead? Can't you understand that US will do whatever to get a terrorist if they find one. So common sense dictates that we cooperate with US to flush out the terrorists who are also damaging our country. Let's support US and help them take down these dangerous men, thereby gain their confidence.
so that the authority concern may ensure a safe exit to a safer hideout.
Just come and look. There is no Osama Bin Laden in Pakistan in spite of earlier US claims. How can al-Zawahiri be here?
Only solid intelligence please.....we don't want to inconvenience our strategic assets unnecessarily by warning them when there was no real threats.....we want to warn them only when you are really planning to attack them, please
Pakistani establishment's inability to lean lessons astonishes me. I mean seriously!
Pakistani establishment has made it painfully clear that OBL was its guest and action against him was treated as treason, by jailing that poor Doctor who tried to help get him.
Even before OBL raid, Pakistan has let off Ilyaz Kashmiri(who later went on to conduct operations against Pakistan itself. How stupid was it to let him go). Pakistan even today refuses to acknowledge that Hafiz Saeed is a Terrorist, in spite of UNSC sanctions against him and his group.
So, its clear to everyone outside Pakistan that giving information about Zawahiri's whereabouts to Pakistan, is as good as telling Zawahiri - "We are coming for you, so get out of here!".
The same drama is being repeated by Pakistan as it is doing about 26/11.
It is fine for Senator Rabbani and FM Khar to say that they will not allow the sovereignty of Pakistan to be compromised when in fact it is already compromised by several foreign terrorists living there. Pakistan intelligence service is keeping these murderers of innocent well protected and the government is unable or unwilling to impose its will on the intelligence service as shown by Hafeez Saeed case.
bunch of jokers....learned nothing from Bin Laden episode.