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| Afghanistan/South Asia |
| So much for an operation in North Waziristan |
| 2005-04-21 |
| A senior military commander here on Wednesday described as 'highly irresponsible' remarks by a US general that Pakistan was planning an army operation against militants in North Waziristan. "It is a figment of his imagination. No operation is being launched in North Waziristan. This is highly irresponsible on his part. This is unwarranted and I condemn it," Peshawar Corps Commander Lt-Gen Safdar Hussain told reporters. Commander of US forces in Afghanistan Lt-Gen David Barno had told reporters in Islamabad on Monday that militants were infiltrating into Afghanistan from Pakistan and Islamabad was planning a military operation in the North Waziristan tribal region. Although Gen Hussain's meeting with reporters had been arranged to highlight achievements of the military during the year-long operation against militants in South Waziristan, the visibly upset commander spoke at length on Gen Barno's statement. Gen Hussain said the US commander needed to put his own house in order. He said he told the US general in a meeting on Tuesday that no infiltration was taking place from Pakistan's side. "There is no infiltration taking place from here, rather there is infiltration from Afghanistan into Pakistan. I told Gen Barno that due to lack of government writ in Afghanistan, weapons, explosives and ammunition are being smuggled into Pakistan from Afghanistan." Sources told Dawn that the military was annoyed that while constantly nudging Islamabad to do more, Washington had done little to give the much-needed technical assistance to help Pakistani forces effectively stop cross-border movement. "We are blind at night. There have been promises of technical assistance, but little has come this way," a military official said. Gen Hussain insisted that neither there was any infiltration taking place nor were there any organized bases of terrorists in North Waziristan. "There may be an odd foreign terrorist out there. But there is no organized base of terrorists. They have no established communication network or training ground there. They are on the run. I will not let them reorganize." Gen Hussain also seemed to have been offended by Gen Barno's assertion that Pakistan and US forces were planning a joint offensive. "What joint operation! There is no joint operation. Which spring offensive he is talking about?" Gen Hussain said the assertion by Gen Barno that Pakistan was in his area of jurisdiction or that Islamabad was planning a military operation was an infringement of Pakistan's sovereignty. "He does not have any jurisdiction. I don't get orders from anyone. Pakistan is a sovereign country and takes decisions on its own," he said, adding: "We do not take dictation from anyone and an operation will be launched only if necessary." He said he had his own intelligence network and would decide on his own whether to launch an operation if and when there was any report in this regard. "I am not a spectator to sit on the fringes and watch. I have a mission to end terrorism and I will act if there is any actionable intelligence. But I want to achieve this without firing a single bullet." He said Pakistan had not so far protested to the US 'strongly enough' for the infiltration taking place from Afghanistan, because there was not much evidence. The corps commander said Pakistan had set up 669 military posts along the 600km long border with Afghanistan and deployed over 70,000 troops as against 69 posts established on the Afghan side of the border. "I have said it earlier that Pakistan has done enough. It is the other countries which need to do more." Gen Hussain said he could say with full confidence that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was not in the tribal region. "There is not a single territory in the tribal region where we do not have presence. Osama moves with a signature security. If there is intelligence report of his presence there then I am going to track him down. I am not going to leave him." |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |