Saturday 7th Dec, 2024
Islamabad: The Pakistani military on Tuesday expressed disappointment at US President Donald Trump’s remarks denouncing the country for harbouring terrorists even as foreign minister Khawaja Asif said Islamabad will continue to work with the world community to eliminate terrorism.
Some political leaders criticised the new American strategy for Afghanistan, saying the US administration is working under pressure from India.
The chief military spokesman, Maj Gen Asif Ghafoor, during an interview with Geo News channel, said the army had registered major gains against terrorist groups operating along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.
“We are not harbouring any terrorists,” said Ghafoor, adding the army’s operations against terrorism over the years made him confident that there would be no resurgence of terrorist groups in coming years.
During a meeting with US envoy David Hale, foreign minister Asif highlighted sacrifices in the fight against terrorism and underlined Pakistan’s “continued desire to work with the international community to eliminate the menace of terrorism”, said a statement from the Foreign Office.
Hale met Asif to brief him on Trump’s policy review for South Asia and Afghanistan. The statement did not say whether Asif had reacted to Trump’s accusations but quoted the foreign minister as reiterating Pakistan’s “perspective and desire for peace and stability in Afghanistan”.
Unnamed Foreign Office officials were quoted by the media as saying that consultations were underway to prepare a detailed response to Trump’s remarks.
“There is nothing new in President Trump’s speech,” a senior unnamed government official told The Express Tribune newspaper. “Pakistan has destroyed and eliminated the terror infrastructure from its soil, therefore repeating the demand of ‘do more’ is not going to work.”
Several political leaders and commentators condemned Trump’s remarks and some accused the US administration of working under pressure from India.
PML-Q leader Mushahid Hussain Syed, the chairman of the Senate’s standing committee on defence, said the Trump administration was continuing the old US policy of putting pressure on Pakistan.
Trump’s policy is a repetition of “old mistakes” and his call for greater Indian involvement in Afghanistan could lead to a “proxy war between Pakistan and India” on Afghan soil, Syed said.
Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) chief Imran Khan, in a series of tweets, criticised the US for blaming Pakistan for its own “deeply flawed and failed” policy on Afghanistan.
“Just as India blames Pak for the indigenous Kashmiri uprisings when these are a result of its own failed policy of (military) repression in (Jammu and Kashmir)…So the US again blames Pak for its deeply flawed & failed Afghan policy stretching over a decade,” he tweeted. He added that Pakistan had fought two wars in Afghanistan at the behest of the US.
Pakistan People’s Party leader Sherry Rehman, a former ambassador to the US, also criticised Trump’s speech, saying the US policy for the Afghan war had been affected by numerous U-turns. “The (US) has given no timeline, no numbers. Yet, their statement is getting more and more (hostile) towards the region,” she told the media.
In his speech at a military facility near Washington, Trump said a pillar of the new US strategy for Afghanistan would be a change in the approach towards Pakistan.
“We can no longer be silent about Pakistan’s safe havens for terrorist organisations, the Taliban, and other groups that pose a threat to the region and beyond. Pakistan has much to gain from partnering with our effort in Afghanistan. It has much to lose by continuing to harbour criminals and terrorists,” he said.
Though the Pakistani people had suffered greatly from terrorism and extremism, the country has “sheltered the same organisations that try every single day to kill our people”, he added.
“We have been paying Pakistan billions and billions of dollars at the same time they are housing the very terrorists that we are fighting. But that will have to change, and that will change immediately…It is time for Pakistan to demonstrate its commitment to civilization, order, and to peace,” Trump said.