Chief of Army Staff General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani demanded on Saturday a halt to repeated cross-border terrorist attacks into Pakistani territory from Afghanistan and warned that Pakistan Army would eliminate the “miscreants” responsible for these assaults no matter where they were if NATO and the Afghan army did not take any action against them.
Gen Kayani was discussing defence and military ties between Pakistan and the United States in a meeting with US Central Command (CENTCOM) Chief General James Mattis in Rawalpindi on Saturday. Sources said the meeting lasted for over an hour, in which matters related to recent US allegations against the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) regarding the Haqqani network, bilateral relations, cross-border attacks from Afghanistan and the deteriorating Pak-US relations were discussed in length.
Gen Kayani made it clear to Gen Mattis that the series of baseless allegations against Pakistani security agencies of having ties with the Haqqani network should come to an end as this could affect ties between the two countries. However, the focus of deliberations remained the recent US allegations against the ISI, blamed by American officials – most notably the formerly sympathetic Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Admiral Mike Mullen – for running a “proxy war” in Afghanistan and exporting terrorism to the embattled country through the Haqqani network.
NO NORTH WAZIRISTAN OPERATION: “General James (Mattis) once again asked for an all-out military operation in North Waziristan against the Haqqani network allegedly based there, but General Kayani told him that as of now that offensive is not possible,” said a security official here, requesting anonymity. “The army chief also warned the top US military official against any unilateral military action in North Waziristan, saying that such a move would have catastrophic repercussions for Pakistan-US cooperation in the fight against terrorism,” the official added.
He said another important issue that was raised by General Kayani during the meeting was that of recent cross-border attacks by Taliban militants in Chitral and Dir from Afghanistan. “Pakistan believes that the NATO and Afghan National Army (ANA) are doing nothing to stop these attacks,” the official said. “General Kayani warned if the attacks continued and there was no prevention on the part of NATO forces and Afghan troops, Pakistan Army would take it upon itself to eliminate these ‘miscreants’ wherever they were found,” he said.
General Kayani also demanded a joint investigation into the cross-border attacks, he added.
Gen Kayani warns of ‘hot pursuit’ to curb cross-border attacks
